Erin Levy- Co-Founder, Co-Artistic Director, Dancer, Choreographer, Teacher

Photo by Nathan NorbyErin Levy is from Jacksonville, Florida, where she started her dance training. Starting at the age of 12, summers were spent at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet (CPYB) with Marcia Dale Weary for their 5 week summer intensives. Junior year of high school, training continued at Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts in their 4 year pre-pro program, while continuing the summer program at CPYB. At 19, she moved to New York City and danced with Eglevsky Ballet, Blue Muse Dance Project, and Ballet Long Island. She continued training in New York with various well known teachers from Steps on Broadway, through their work-study program, and took classes at PeriDance, Dance New Amsterdam and Ballet Arts. She has an Associates Degree in Jewelry Design from FIT in New York, and a BFA in Metalsmithing with a Minor in Small Business/Entrepreneurship from MSU. Erin is a dancer, choreographer, co-artistic director of Raison D’être Dance Project. Her involvement in Bozeman’s Dance Community has inspired her with a vision for fostering collaborations between musicians and dancers, and nurturing choreographers to bring their ideas to fruition with Raison D’être Dance Project. With the community RDE creates, she has found inspiration in how the artists work together, and is grateful for the continued growth they experience as a collective.

Photo by Nathan Norby

Erin studied Ballet at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and Nutmeg Conservatory before moving to New York City, where she danced with Eglevsky Ballet and Blue Muse Dance Project. She continued her training in New York at 19 years old, taking classes with various well-known teachers from Steps on Broadway, PeriDance, Dance New Amsterdam, and Ballet Arts at City Center.

Switching gears, she studied Jewelry Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She later moved to Bozeman, Montana, to earn a degree in Metalsmithing and Small Business from Montana State University. She is currently the manager at Gem Gallery, where she continues her jewelry design aspirations, specializing in rare Yogo and Montana Sapphires and cutting-edge custom fine jewelry alongside the talented Jason Baide and the Gem Gallery team. Erin also volunteers for the local non-profit Bienvenidos.

As co-founder of Raison D’être Dance Project (RDE), she and Genevieve Trygstad-Burke share a vision of collaborating with artists and musicians to create works that push boundaries and challenge audiences and themselves to experience something new and unique. They aim to contribute to Bozeman’s already rich performing arts culture and have successfully grown the idea of bringing diverse audiences together by mixing classical and contemporary music for their projects.

In her choreography, Erin pulls from her personal experience and implements the professional development RDE provides for their dancers. Her career with RDE has provided a platform for her own growth, and she is committed to offering that same opportunity to other seasoned artists who may have unwillingly paused their passions for personal reasons. She believes that artists' potential for growth is infinite, and without providing support, the world might miss out on their full capabilities and the works they are capable of creating. Her ultimate goal is to see artists and dancers let go and discover something about themselves through working with RDE, thereby inspiring audiences to continue to appreciate and support live performing arts.

Erin Levy