ArtiGras Podcast · ArtiGras Fine Arts Festival

The Rhythm of Community: Ericka Squire on Art, Love, and Leadership

·1 hr 14 min·4 clips

“Nothing that I’m doing is because of myself alone.”

Community is the root. Erica Squire traces Natural Movers back to an early Palm Beach County understanding of what people owe each other, where art sounds less like achievement and more like care. Sarah LaPierre gives the conversation room to breathe, asking about background, travel, education, and the local experiences still moving through Erica's work. Natural Movers has more than one lane. Erica talks about the administrative CEO hat she wears while curating and producing events, then the creative hat that comes on for choreography and teaching. Home stays close to the center. She names wife and mom as her first role, which gives the professional story a different kind of weight before it opens out. The dance company history gets clearer as she explains how Natural Movers Dance Project once sat under Natural Movers, then had to separate after the nonprofit structure made the identities too tangled. Her choreographic method feels careful, and also a little mysterious in the best way. Erica says God gave her the process, and she works through writing, prompts, tasks, and biblical scripture. The dancers do not get handed movement right away. First, she watches how they move, what qualities they carry, and whether their bodies are ready for the material. If the movement does not fit where the dancer is, she believes the stage can start to look forced. So she lets bodies and personal stories show her what the piece wants to become. Sarah hears the tenderness in that. She reflects back a practice that works with the creator instead of treating choreography like something to press onto people. The local thread stays present through the end, with a September event, future Natural Movers work, and the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County's support of the arts community. The episode closes in gratitude, with leadership framed as service, scripture, movement, and patience.

As heard by us

A grounded arts conversation about community, choreography, and the slow work behind movement.

Erica Squire's path moves through Palm Beach County and arts education, with community treated as part of the work rather than a side note. The piece stays close to that throughline, moving from childhood anchors like church into Natural Movers, where choreography grows out of…

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a conversation about art shaped by community and creative process.

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