ERIN HARKIN fell in love with dance at a very young age.  She began her dance career at the age of seven at Cummings Studio of Dance.  She began in Tap, Jazz, and Ballet, but soon expanded her repertoire to include Pointe, Modern and Lyrical dance.

At the age of thirteen she was diagnosed with Scoliosis, a condition where the spine curves abnormally to the side and/or twists.  In order to combat this condition she needed to find a dance form that focused on strengthening the core muscles of the abdomen and lower back. 

What began as a search for a solution to a problem became Erin’s favorite dance style: Middle Eastern dance.  She continued her education in dance and began learning under Myriam Eli at the University Center for the Performing Arts.  With her new instructor, she studied Egyptian, Turkish, Armenian, Folk, Cabaret, and Romani.  She studied veil, double veil, cane, double cane, fan, zills, and bendir with Myriam.

Thoroughly fascinated with the folk dances she was learning, Erin took classes in Mayan, Tin-Kiu, Tai-Iki, Bolivian, Afro-Cuban and Afro-Haitian styles at New World School of the Arts, as well as private lessons in Hula and Poi with Luna Burns.  She also is versed in Sephardic dance from Myriam Eli, Flamenco from Bailes Ferrer, American Tribal Style, Tribal Fusion, and various fire props.

Erin has danced professionally with Harmonic Motion, Bailes Ferrer, and Glitter Girls and has performed in Tamalyn Dallal’s Danse Orientale, and Bailes Ferrer’s Rhonda Gitana and Maja’s Spirit of the Tribes.  This will also mark Erin’s fifth year performing in the Florida Renaissance Festival at Quiet Waters Park. 

Erin and her dance partner Brianna Austin have a performance company called Masala Middle Eastern Dance Fusion, which focuses on the fusion between various styles of dance including Middle Eastern, Flamenco and Polynesian.  They have been guest instructors for Bellydance workshops in Texas and Spirit of the Tribes, and have taught public, private, and gratis classes locally in Davie, Sunrise and Boca Raton.