The trip from Nepean to New York City was a long one for Ericka Yang.
It started at the Greta Leeming Studio of Dance when she was three and ended with Yang's first part in a Broadway show at age 20.
Ericka is in the ensemble of the new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song which opened on Broadway Oct. 17.
"It's really great opening up a show in New York," she said over the phone from her room in the Big Apple. "There's so much going on and it's so fresh and new."
She moved to New York in August to begin rehearsing for the show. It was a bit of a tough transition for her, she said, but she's gotten to love it there.
"I'm starting to enjoy the city a lot more. I did miss home for a while there though. It's really different."
Home for Ericka is the Ryan Farm neighbourhood, where her parents Phil and Kathleen still live along with brother Warren and sister Vanessa in the house Ericka was born in.
Ericka attended Parkwood Hills Public School, Sir Winston Churchill Middle School and then Canterbury High, where she was enrolled in the vocal music program.
She attributes much of her success to the Canterbury program.
"It's part of the reason I'm able to do shows like this," she said. It was the first time she'd really studied singing, which is half of her role in the ensemble.
She spent a much longer time honing her dancing skills. Her parents enrolled her in the Greta Leeming Studio on Merivale Road when Ericka was a toddler. She only left the school at age 18 when she moved to Toronto for a role in The Lion King musical.
"They (the Greta Leeming Studio) were really good to me and they produced a lot of good dancers," Ericka said.
"I give them a lot of credit."
Her role in Flower Drum Song is her third major role, she said. Before it came The Lion King in Toronto, where she was a 'swing' - meaning she studied several roles and filled in when necessary. Before that was two-month role in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
But her role in Flower Drum Song is possibly her toughest because she's always on the go.
"I find this show really challenging because we're always on stage. And if we're not on stage, we're downstairs changing."
Being on Broadway is the dream of countless music and dance students, but Ericka said it was never something she thought about.
"I think it happened so fast that I didn't have enough time to want it that badly before it actually happened."