Natalia Garcia hopes to become a professional dance choreographer one day, touring with a company, providing choreography for shows in Hollywood, Broadway or elsewhere.
The 13-year-old from Naperville might be on her way already, practicing, dancing, traveling and winning competitions across the country, all while juggling eighth grade.
“I think for me, I can just really feel what I’m feeling in dance,” Garcia said. “It just kind of puts you in this space where nothing else matters at that moment except dance. I also really like how no one else is doing something like this.”
Dancing runs in the family. Garcia’s mom was a former competitive ballroom dancer, and Garcia’s mom and dad own and manage the Dance Spot of DuPage studio on East Ogden Avenue, respectively.
“When (her mother) was pregnant with Natalia, I remember going to Michigan and Wisconsin and she was in her belly,” said her father, Mario Garcia.
Garcia started dancing at 3. At 5 years old, she began to dance competitively.
“It’s definitely ingrained in the family. My grandma did it, she used to do ballroom and line dancing when she was my age. My mom did it, and now I’m doing it. It definitely gives me a sense of honor and happiness that I can share it and my whole family gets it,” she said.
Nowadays, Garcia trains in contemporary, ballet, jazz, and hip-hop.
In just the last two years, Garcia has participated in national tours and conventions sponsored by Break The Floor, New York City Dance Alliance (NYCDA) and RADIX. She’s won or placed at some of these competitions that are spread out in cities like Chicago, Cleveland, Orlando, Nashville, and others. The Garcias drove to Detroit recently for the 24 Seven dance convention/competition.
With the DanceMakers convention/competition, Garcia became an assistant and worked with choreographers from the FOX reality show “So You Think You Can Dance” and others with Broadway production experience.
“They shared so much knowledge from not just ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ but also all their lives and what they’ve learned,” she said. “We really got to know these choreographers as people.”
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Traditional schooling would be almost impossible with all the competitions, Garcia and her dad said. As a result, Garcia – who attended Indian Prairie School District 204 — is currently homeschooled using the Time4Learning online curriculum platform.
Garcia said it gives her the flexibility to practice and learn at her convenience; she practices 14 to 20 hours a week in Naperville or Chicago. If she has to dance early, she can do her assignments later in the day, and vice versa.
“She’s on the computer in the car doing her schoolwork,” her father said of traveling to a convention or competition.
“The flexibility is very much appreciated when it comes to this,” she said; she plans to return to a physical high school in the near future.
The pandemic changed plenty for Garcia. She has to wear masks at some competitions, some events have been postponed or canceled, and driving has become the preferred way to travel.
“Right now because of the pandemic, there were times we were supposed to travel and they cancel it last minute…if we start booking flights, we’re just going to lose at the end,” Mario Garcia said.
It all comes at a cost. Some competitions may pay for Garcia but not her parents, he said. Some trips are paid for using scholarships while others are out of pocket.
“We try to budget ourselves,” he said, sometimes opting for less-expensive hotels not too far from their destination.
“It’s expensive, but it’s an investment” in Garcia’s dancing and dreams, he added.