Dancer Spotlight: Natalia Garcia
Name: Natalia Garcia
Hometown: Miami, FL
Company Member Since: 2025
Instagram: @natiballerinaa
What’s your “origin story”? How did you fall in love with ballet?
My mom took me to see a performance of The Nutcracker performed by Miami City Ballet and I told her that I’d be on stage dancing Sugarplum one day. She enrolled me in their ballet school a year later and I continued to dance there until my graduation.
Do you have any pre-show rituals or good-luck habits?
I like to make sure my makeup looks perfect; it adds some confidence if I feel like my body may be a little too tired before a performance. As well if I’m warming up by myself I like to do a barre alongside pump up music like Pitbull or some 80’s pop. And in the colder months especially backstage I’ll wear my warmups up until the last few minutes before going onstage so I can preserve that body heat.
Ballet is so demanding- how do you take care of your body and recharge offstage?
I make sure to just enjoy my time resting as much as possible. I like to be super comfortable bundling myself up in multiple layers of warmups. Besides sleeping by many hours, I take a warm bath once I get home to help my muscles, and I’ll sit outside in the sun while enjoying a meal. Visiting a café for a matcha or coffee and an hour of reading also helps clear my mind and helps me to relax.
What’s your go-to comfort food after a long rehearsal day?
I don’t have a go to except during tech weeks or performance days. I’ll go get sushi by the theater either for lunch or dinner as a reward for the work week.
Dancer memories are super-charged. How do you keep track of choreography?
I usually have to repeat the phrase multiple times with the music until it becomes muscle memory. Once that is set then I can usually go into the specifics of counts or certain gestures.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received about dancing- or life in general?
“It’s not that serious”. As a person who overthinks everything I think when I allow myself to make mistakes then it sort of works as reverse psychology and I perform better than I expected. Other key pieces of advice are to “keep breathing”. Just hearing the reminder helps me ground myself better with the present.
If you could dance any role, regardless of gender or repertoire, what would it be?
Tatiana from Onegin, Diamonds principle girl, Anita or Maria in West Side Story Suite, This Bitter Earth, and Slaughter on Tenth Ave.
Aside form shoes and warmups, what is a staple in your dance bag?
It’s not in my bag, but my blue roller. As well a journal to write down my feelings, reminders, affirmations, and goals.
Where do you see ballet heading in the next few years, and what excites you most about being part that future?
I have no clue where it’s heading but hopefully the work I’ll do as both a dancer and supporter of the arts will leave a positive impact to expand this art form further than what we could only imagine.
