Good Morning World!

It is a new day, a new week, a new season, a new phase…

My name is Erika Diane and according to the baby names book, that means “Ever Powerful Huntress.”  Hence, the blog name.

Before I get down to business, a little about me: I am a native Miamian, a lifelong dancer, an ex-gymnast, a lover of stories, and a seeker of truth.   I’ve been an actor in Shakespeare productions, childrens’ plays, childrens’ tours, musicals and as a background extra on TV shows; I’ve been a dancer in circus shows, fashion shows, magic shows, with a modern company, junior ballet companies, occasionally guest star as The Sugar Plum Fairy for local Nutcrackers and I appeared with The Royal Ballet before I attended middle school.

On the non-professional side, I went through the devastation of Hurricane Andrew as a young child.  Huddling in a dark interior room, hearing the thundering sound of wind slamming doors open down the hall, ice water soaking the bedroom rug, a month without electricity, city wide curfews, belongings forever lost, years to fully rebuild… It’s been long enough now that I’m starting to forget some of what I learned from that experience, but immediately, and for a long while after, it changed my priorities and vantage point on life forever.  Life is short.  And unpredictable.  Personal belongings are just things.  Things do not equal happiness.

I’m currently a non-union actor.  This initially started out as a choice – why join the union if I can garner stronger roles and experience in non-union shows?  I was also given the idea that, as a dancer, joining Equity would limit my opportunities with the non-union-affiliated dance companies.  I’m starting to think that this was somewhat misrepresented and I’d finally like to join the union.  However, accomplishing that in Miami has begun to seem impossible.

To pay the bills I found my niche in the circus world: Contortion!  I’m not amazing but it’s fun!  With my background in artistic gymnastics, the crossover seemed natural…  This eventually led to fire dancing, hula hoops and aerial lyra.

At the moment I’m on a temporary performance hiatus.  That may get explained at a later date, or not.  This depends on how well we get to know each other.  😉

In this blog you can expect to see a couple different things:  lessons on yoga, news on fashion, thoughts and reports on food and health…  Maybe a little politics, expanding world views…  How to stay grounded and true to your values while navigating through this exciting era in history.

And this really is an exciting time!!!  Instead of remaining paralyzed by the fear of mounting climate change (and certain political leaders resolute ignorance of its progression) or stunned by the inequalities and atrocities committed by man (on both a local and a global scale), IT IS TIME TO KEEP TALKING.  In the last few years I’ve replaced my doe-eyed “we can change the world” naivety with a more realistic and resolved “one person can’t fight an army” cynicism.  It’s time to bury the cynicism.  It’s time to regain the hope.