Erica Johnston has been creating costumes for dance since 2004. She has designed for choreographers Igal Perry, Jessica Lang, Claudia Schreier, Dwight Rhoden, Lia Cirio, Gregory Dolbashian, Nicholas Palmquist, Adam Barruch, Bradley Shelver, Alison Cook Beatty, Jessica Chen, Stuart Lewis, and Virginie Méçène, among others. Erica has also reconstructed costumes for many iconic dance restagings, including works by Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor, George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Alwin Nikolais, Loie Fuller, Gerald Arpino, and José Limon.
Additionally, Erica works as a trusted builder for other designers, including Mark Eric (Ballet X, Ephrat Asherie Dance, AAADT, Ailey II, Ballet Hispanico, Philadelphia Ballet), Bradon McDonald (Jessica Lang Dance, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater), Mondo Morales (Philadanco, Jeremy McQueen, Sonya Tayeh, Rioult), and Caitlin Taylor (Sidra Bell Dance, New York City Ballet, MadBoots Dance). She also works on projects outside of the dance world, including assisting designer Tilly Grimes for A$AP Rocky's "Testing the Waters" at Sotheby's NYC, stitching for the Big Apple Circus, wardrobe supervising for Art Garfunkel, and stitching for Atelier Abene for Jon Batiste and Stay Human. Additionally, she has built costumes for television shows, including HBO's "Legendary! Season 1" and Disney Plus's "The Quest", both designed by Johnny Wujek and supervised by Sarah Dixey. |
Erica has an extensive dance background, which greatly influences both the form and function in everything she designs. She trained with the Champaign Urbana Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Alonzo King's LINES, Paul Taylor's American Modern Dance, Visceral Dance Chicago, Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, and Ballet Arts at New York City Center. She graduated Cum Laude from Butler University with a BFA in Dance Performance and now freelances in and around New York, NY. During lockdown in 2020, Erica worked with composer Nevada Lozano and pianist Wesley Ducote to produce an album of original music for ballet class and an accompanying pedagogical guide for introducing music theory to dancers; you can find out more about this project here. "Music for Ballet Class" is available to stream on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, and YouTube. Erica is also the original pattern maker and builder for Illuminate Dancewear, a Chicago-based dance apparel brand founded by Carrie Patterson that partners with various nonprofit organizations. Check out more about Illuminate Dancewear here! Contact Erica: Pointecreations@gmail.com Follow Erica (@edjohnst) on Instagram here! |