Erica Rose Jeffrey

Since 2001,  Erica Rose Jeffrey has been working to connect dance, empathy and peace. The first professional dancer to be selected as Rotary World Peace Fellow, she is currently living in  Australia to complete a Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies with a research focus on dance connected to conflict transformation and peacebuilding.

Originally from Missoula, Montana, Erica Rose  studied dance at the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, graduating as valedictorian before joining Ballet Internationale. After dancing professionally for several years, she attended Indiana University on full academic and artistic scholarships as a Wells Scholar and graduated with degrees in Ballet and Mediation & Conflict Resolution.

Ms. Jeffrey  has performed with Ballet Internationale, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Underground Arts Connection, the Chicago Lyric Opera and Rocky Mountain Ballet Theatre. Since moving to San Francisco she has worked with a variety of groups such as: the Marin Theatre Company, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, Robert Moses “Drafts”, Moving Arts Dance, and has toured to China as part of a cultural exchange for the Olympics. Her work has appeared in: the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, ODC Pilot, the American Geophysics Union Awards Ceremony, Collaborate! Dance and Music, Women on the Way Festival, COUNTERPOINTE’s annual “Works in Motion,” IndyConvergence, the Monterey Choreographer’s Festival and the Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival.

Involved in multiple communities, Ms. Jeffrey taught for the San Francisco Ballet Dance in Schools and Communities program in public schools, Luna Dance Institute and directed Marin Dance Theatre’s Let’s All Dance! Outreach program. She was instrumental in launching the Parkinson’s Dance Project, Marin County’s first Dance for Parkinson’s program affiliated with the Mark Morris Dance for PD program.  In addition to performing, she ran the dance company COUNTERPOINTE.  Ms. Jeffrey has created the dance and conflict resolution education program, Moving Toward Peace and worked with the California Lawyers for the Arts youth education programs to integrate conflict resolution education and the arts.

In Australia she is active with the Rotary Community, the dance community and has successfully launched  Dance for Parkinson’s Australia program with classes in Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. Through her work with the Community Café Dialogues she has continued to work to build connections with diverse communities and facilitate important conversations. She is currently pursuing a Phd on scholarship at the Queensland University of Technology, looking further into the connections of dance, empathy and peace.