Erika Ochoa is a contemporary artist of Middle Eastern dance, specializing in Egyptian-style dance.. She has been dancing professionally in the Chicagoland area for the past fourteen years. She was born and raised in Mexico City, but has expanded her education outside the U.S. and Mexico, studying with Egyptian dancers and choreographers such as Yousry Sharif, Randa Kamel, Dina of Cairo, Dr, Mo Gedawi, Farida Fahmy, Mahmoud Reda, Abeer Will, Tito, Lubna Emam, Aida Nour, Nevein Ramez, Asmahan, Mohamed El Hosseny and Momo Kadous. She also travels regularly to New York City to study and perform with Samara at the Alvin Alley dance school. Erika holds a degree in Fashion Design and produces her own line of dance unitards and custom costuming, seen in her shows and productions.


Erika's instruction and performance are sought throughout the Midwest. In addition to owning and managing Pineapple Dance Studio in Forest Park, IL, she teaches weekly at the Old Town School of Folk Music. She has been featured at workshops and classes at many private and public schools and art festivals all over the city, including the Old Town School of Folk Music's Folk and Roots Festival, La Feria del Libro, Chicago Botanic Garden and the African Arts Festival at Washington Park. Erika also sponsors dance workshops through Pineapple Dance Studio, offering local dancers an opportunity to study with a wide variety of Middle Eastern artists. She has performed at well-known venues including the the Chicago Cultural Center, the Field Museum, Silk Road Festival at Millennium Park and Navy Pier.


Erika is founder and producer of  Baladina Dance Company since late 2005.  She has produced a number of shows in the past years, such as Bint Al Balad, the Bellyqueen performance at Dominican University and St Patrick Performing Arts Centre, "Eden?" at the Raven Theatre, "Sharia Mohamed Ali", "Pendulum" at the Portage Theatre and others. she also has participated in the Spanish language production of "José el Soñador" (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Coat), assisting director Javier Salas of "El Teatro del Pueblo." She created two choreographies for the play, instructed actors on Egyptian customs, provided additional promotion for the show and performed a piece herself. She also created a veil dance piece for the world premiere theater production of "The Day on Which a Man Dies" (Tennessee Williams), working with famous artistic director David Kaplan, starring Jennie Moreau and Steve Key, on February of 2009, she was a guest dancer for the Valentines private party for the cast of Fox 32 hosted by Dave Novarro, alternating with Lisa La Boriqua.


On July 16th, 2008 She shared the stage with Lamajamal directed by Ronnie Malley on a special sold out concert at the Old Town School of Folk Music as part of the World Music series .

Erika can be seen in the Chicago Tribune, Time Out, Metromix, the Chicago Reader and other print publications, and in other media sources such as 560 AM Radio and Channel 66 Noticias Univision, where she was featured several times in a special segment entitled "Dancing like Shakira." Her original costume design is highlighted in the performance of "Pendulum" (Baladina Egyptian Dance Theatre) in a piece called "Erika is struggling with the moment.".


She is one of the featured dancers in the video Cairo Raks Chicago where she shares the stage with Aida Nour, Karim Nagi and many other great dancers, produced by Chelly Raks.

She is the winner of the Maqam Competition in Chicago on two categories, where she got 1st place on the Professional Drum solo category and 1st place on the Professional Raks Sharki category, this past August 22/09

Dance resume by request: pineappledancestudio@gmail.com

Pineapple Dance Studio is directed by Erika.




















Erika Ochoa, photo by Adrian Fortis, Pendulum show