For Rudy Garcia, Dance and Life are the Same Thing

From his very first dance class, Rudy Garcia knew he wanted to pursue dance for the rest of his life.

Growing up in Miami in a Cuban-Salvadorean family, his aunt was a professional dancer. Watching her perform alongside other dancers, he fell in love with the freedom they encapsulated on stage, the raw and authentic expression they manifested through movement.

When he was fourteen, his aunt opened a dance studio, and Garcia enrolled in his first class.

“When I tell you, the first [dance] class I took, I was like: oh, this is it, this is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. I just fell in love with it,” he says on the latest episode of Storytellers.

Through movement, Garcia is able to convey how he feels. Whether he’s sad or happy, moody or in love, he tells stories in the ways he embodies the song and expresses its lyrics using his body and formations.

Rudy Garcia being interviewed for Storytellers.

Being a male dancer, he has certainly faced the expectation to be macho and hyper-masculine when he dances. For a long time, he didn’t say he was gay out of fear of not booking jobs.

“If you think about it, artists like Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, all these people, they have these men on stage with them, which is totally cool, but I think that’s why it took me so long to say that I was gay,” he says, “and to be okay with my dancing, which was a little more feminine, a little more fluid. [I thought] if I don’t dance this way and act this way, I’m not going to get a job.”

When Garcia told his family he was gay, they responded with nothing but support. The way he thought about it, if the people who he loved the most accepted and celebrated him, then there was no reason to hide his true self on stage. So, he came out publicly.

“I know who I am as a dancer, as a human being, as an artist; why not show everyone that?” he says. “Not everyone is going to like you, not everyone’s going to like your work, so you just have to be true to yourself.”

That authenticity caught the attention of renowned dancer Janelle Ginestra at an awards show in Miami, who encouraged him to bring his skills to California. He packed a bag, took whatever savings he had, and moved west.

Garcia’s career in Los Angeles has seen the studios of Mickey’s 90th Spectacular, the Alma Awards, and J Balvin’s sets. No matter the show, no matter the team, he is true to himself when it comes to his artistry.

Rudy Garcia choreographing on set for Storytellers.

As a choreographer, he has high expectations.

“Working with my dancers, I will say I am crazy,” he says. “I am full out, I’m hands-on, I’m loud, I’m in it. When I’m teaching, I become like a different person. Something in my brain clicks, and then I’m just like—it’s go time.”

In an industry where it’s easy to get tunnel-visioned or jaded, Garcia hopes to remind dancers why they fell in love with dance in the first place. For him, dance and life are the same thing. So, whether he’s rehearsing for a show or teaching a class, he conveys joy along with discipline.

For more on Rudy Garcia, check out his story on the next episode of the docu-series, Storytellers. There’s some dancing featured in the show that you don’t want to miss!