About Erica 

Erica Saben is a multi skilled circus artist who specializes in wirewalking. She has years of professional performance and teaching experience and is available for bookings worldwide.  

   Erica is a TED (technology, entertainment, and design) presenter and the founding director of Charm City Movement Arts, the first circus school in Baltimore MD.

  Erica Saben was raised by a music obsessed family and was lucky enough to be exposed to the arts an early age. Family holiday gatherings often occurred at her grandparents home where the family would assemble around a drum set and watch her grandfather play, or listen to old stories of life on the road while videos of his old band played in the background.

 Her performing career began at the age of 12 when she was brought on as a trombone by the Sugar and Jazz orchestra in Buffalo, NY. Her sister was the band's piano player. Erica spent her weekends and summers performing the music of the 30’s and 40’s until college when she chose to focus her study not on music, but instead on theatre and dance.

 She found herself at Fredonia State University where she studied Theatre for two years before being accepted into the competitive dance department of the State University of New York College at Brockport. While at Brockport, Erica focused her energy on dance composition and was a very active choreographer. It was also at Brockport that she was introduced to the remarkable worlds of African and Caribbean dance. Erica performed extensively with Sankofa African Dance Ensemble as well as several student choreographers who specialized in Haitian and Jamaican dance. 

  Upon graduating from SUNY Brockport, Erica was  awarded a full scholarship to Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston Jamaica.
Erica now holds a BS in Modern Dance and Political Science from SUNY Brockport, and A Certificate of Graduate Study in Caribbean Dance and Culture from Edna Manley College.

  After graduating Edna Manley College, Erica relocated to Philadelphia where she became heavily involved in the city's thriving theatre and dance community. 

  Her circus career began by accident when she was spotted dancing in The Opera Company of Philadelphia’s production of Rigoletto by the Give and Take Jugglers. She was asked to join their touring show as a dancer and obscure puppeteer in 2006 and was transformed from a dancer to a circus performer in a matter of weeks. 

 Erica continued to perform dance and acting throughout her time with Give and Take. Among other things, she performed extensively with Brazil Productions dance company as well as showcasing many of her own pieces of contemporary choreography throughout the city. She was featured in many independent films and was a core cast member at the Bistro Romano Dinner Theatre. 

 Erica owes her juggling and object manipulation skills to 6 years on the road Give and Take. Through Give and Take she met Shana Kennedy the founder of the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts, who taught Erica static trapeze, aerial silks, corde lisse, and most importantly tightwire. Within a year of Erica joining Give and Take she helped them evolve from a juggling troupe to an open air one ring circus featuring aerial acts and tightwire acts. She also took advantage of the wonderful faculty at PSCA and spent all of her remaining free time studying hand balancing and partner acrobatics with Lin Junming of the Fujian acrobats troupe of China.

In 2011, Erica Opened Charm City Movement Arts the first circus school of it's kind in Baltimore Md. While running Charm City Movement Arts she continued to perform with Give and Take and simultaneously built a performance company through Charm City Movement Arts for events and festivals. She relocated to San Francisco California in January 2013 and continued to run Charm City Movement Arts remotely while building a tightwire program at the renowned San Francisco Circus Center. 

  It is important to Erica to continue to learn and grow as an artist. While at Circus Center Erica had  the privilege of learning from their prestigious faculty. She has studied with Master LuYi, Kemina Xia, Xiaohong Weng, Noe Za, Catie Brier and several other talented instructors. 

    Skills Erica has performed, taught, or studied include but are not limited to: tightwire, static trapeze, aerial silks, puppetry, juggling, partner acrobatics, Chinese pole, clown, mime, contortion, trampoline, rolla bolla, walking globe, stilt walking,  tumbling, stage acting, film acting, and dance. She also has a trained dog act. 

   Erica has taught movement for over 16 years. She can design a workshop or performance for almost any venue or event.