Chris Erk was born on October 2, 1981. He grew up in Southington, CT.
Attuned to rhythm from an early age, he began tap dance lessons at the age of four.
When he was ten, Chris began his performance career in his home state of CT, as Fritz in the Nutcracker with the Hartford Ballet.
In his early teens, he trained and toured in theater and dance with the School of the Hartford Ballet and the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts.
Chris was a member of Looking In Teen Theater, a youth acting group that confronts the realities of teen related issues.
At 15, Chris was cast in the international sensation, Tap Dogs, with whom he toured for five years.
He then joined Gil Stroming as an original cast member of Break the Floor and faculty and staff member of his Production Company. He then was appointed as Creative Coordinator of Jump, the cutting edge traveling dance competition and convention.
As 12-year resident of New York City, Chris could also be found teaching tap dance at Broadway Dance Center and Steps on Broadway.
He has extensive experience teaching pre-professional students at local dance studios in and surrounding New York City.
As an active master teacher, Chris has worked with a variety of conventions and competitions throughout the United States. He has also choreographed solo and group routines that have gone on to receive high honors on the regional and national levels.
Chris is also a former Adjunct Faculty member of Wright State University and Sinclair Community College in Dayton, OH. He taught courses in Tap Dance and Dance Studies.
As a member of Noah Raceys', New York Song & Dance Company, Chris has traveled to Amman, Jordan, on behalf of the US Embassy. The aim was to introduce tap dance to the Jordanian culture. He went on to be a guest artist in the original production of Noah Racey's Pulse, directed by Jeff Calhoun, which premiered at the Asolo Repertory Theater, Sarasota, FL in the Summer of 2013.
Since 2000, Chris has an ongoing relationship with the Rhythmics and Livelab Productions, with whom he has performed and choreographed for mission-driven events designed for the world's largest organizations.
He was also an original cast member of a creation of Project Dance and Jared Grimes called Broadway Underground, currently residing at the legendary B. B. King's in Times Square, NYC.
Chris later signed on as an original cast member and co-choreographer of Rasta Thomas Tap Star's, a Bad Boys of Dance Production. This show sat down in Hamburg, Germany for the summer of 2012.
After earning his GED, Chris began is undergrad at Sinclair Community College, in Dayton, OH. There he later founded the Tap Factor, a passionate group of tap dancers of all demographics who are interested in using dance as a social tool for self expression. He produced community events such as Soul'd Out - Dayton and the Dayton Tap Project and gained experience in community engagement, a field of interest he would continue to pursue in the coming years.
With his sights set on pursuing his new found mission, he returned to New York City, where he completed his last two undergraduate years of college, at the New School for Public Engagement. This would help him understand further the work he did in Dayton, OH, with the Tap Factor as well as how to define other aspects to his work that drives his current interest, which is "to share dance with the world in ways that are meaningful and impactful."
Chris is a proud member of the Center for Social Innovation - Starrett Lehigh. A shared work space that community that is operated by over 200 socially conscious organizations.
Click here to view a short documentary charting the work of the Tap Factor, the FREE Players and Best Buddies New York. It charts the progress of the immersive tap dance program that brought together individuals of all abilities to the stage at Carnegie Hall in Elaine Kwon & Friends, a benefit concert supporting Best Buddies New York.
Chris was also invited to be a presenter at the the 2014 TEDxPeachtree Conference in Atlanta GA where he demonstrated that music is a language that has no borders. His performance piece was a collaboration with Heaven Beatbox, an international beatbox forerunner.
In early 2015, Chris was invited to tap dance with Scott Bradlee and Postmodern Jukebox on it's 2nd Annual European Tour. The experience gave Chris the opportunity to understand what it was like to play music venues to concert audiences. It has further enriched Chris as a solo artist.
Chris is proud to have been reunited with Tap Dogs as it's Foreman and Dance Captain, with whom he has toured recently in Germany and China.
Contact Chris for bookings! He is always on the lookout for opportunities to share his passion for artistic and creation and development with the world.
