Karla Garcia
Karla Garcia was 3 years old when she began to dance. She took a tap class and loved it! Tap is her first love.
Dance has impacted Karla's life ever since I was a young girl. It’s affected the way she socialized and what she prioritized growing up, it taught her to work hard and make sacrifices to reach her goals, but most importantly, it became her passion for life.
Karla missed a lot of high school dances and parties growing up, but she was okay because she was driven to something bigger in the future. Staying in shape physically and mentally are huge parts of her lifestyle. Dance and theater automatically make someone more worldly and open-minded. Her career has morphed from wanting to be a professional dancer on Broadway to wanting to choreograph and create new shows for Broadway.
Karla is always learning something new when she takes a class or has rehearsal with choreographers she looks ups to. She never stops getting inspired by exciting concepts that she's never seen before. That’s how the creative community continues to push each other, and Karla is grateful to be a part of it.
Karla went to Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. She was coming from a dance studio that specialized in training Broadway-caliber dancers. Tisch was a conservatory and offered ballet, modern, and choreography resources. It introduced a whole new way of moving for Karla and she was very influenced by her peers who came from different training backgrounds.
​
Karla wasn’t a choreographer yet, so she didn't take full advantage of all the composition opportunities. Afterward, she came out of the program with such an appreciation for her art form. Her movement vocabulary was wider after having trained at Tisch. Karla also developed a more intellectual way of looking at dance and articulating it.
Being the successful dancer that Karla is, especially teaching at Broadway Dance Center, some of the most memorable experiences of her was getting to performing on the Tony Awards with the cast of Gigi and also Hamilton were two prime moments for her. Karla also loves getting to teach at BDC every week and watch different types of dancers to interpret her choreography. Karla's favorite performance that has a special place in her heart was performing Hamilton the day after the election. Talk about powerful!
​
Karla's favorite part about teaching dance is that she loves making an adjustment or giving a note and seeing it click within the dancer. Dance is one of the most powerful ways we communicate because we don’t use words. Feeling that connection to someone and watching how they listen and apply it to her work is extremely fulfilling.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Karla and her dance life since Broadway is closed, so she's not performing. Fortunately, the teaching industry is continuing virtually, so Karla is still able to have classes online. She hopes that there are chances for people to connect artistically and feel some joy doing what they love even if it’s in a different way.
It’s quite different than in person, but she is just so thankful dancers can still vibe online! Karla is using dance to remain productive during this time by teaching and taking online classes.
Teaching has given Karla a platform to share her voice with many dancers. She's also able to notice which dancers dig her style and vibe similarly. Karla hopes that it inspires future dancers to continue on the journey or create their own work as well.
​
She has been a mentor to many of her students. Karla sees a lot of her younger self in them and has a lot of empathy for those who are still finding their ground. It makes her excited for them to continue the journey! It’s also inspiring because she grows and learns from them too.
Karla hopes she teaches in a way that will inspire dancers to grow inside and outside the dance community. She always had teachers that gave her tools to survive in the real world, apart from dance — being bold, taking chances, being polite, listening before you respond, trying to really understand what someone is articulating, and supporting others. All these things can be used outside the community, and she hopes she provides that in class.
If Karla had to describe what dance means to her in 3 words they would be: INNATE, HEART, FORCE
​
To describe what teaching dance means to her in 3 words they would be: INSPIRE, DRIVE, CONNECT
Dance has taken the forefront of mainstream media in a large way this past decade. Karla is glad there’s a huge appreciation for the effect dance can have on the soul! It’s subliminally a part of everyone’s life.
​
To further her reach in the dance community, Karla plans on continuing to travel abroad, schedule allowing. Visiting the Philippines and teaching there was incredibly fulfilling, and she wants to return and pass on more of what she has learned to them.
Karla will continue to showcase and teach for different organizations that keep her involved with the NYC dance scene. Karla is currently choreographing a new musical called OTHER WORLD at Bucks County Playhouse in PA. The show was postponed due to COVID-19, so Karla is hoping it will be released and ready when all the pandemic is over.
​
