Rachel Garcia

Rachel Garcia is a recent graduate from Saint Mary's College of California with a B.A. in Sociology and Dance, where she furthered her training with the Saint Mary's College Dance Company and Saint Mary's College Spirit Team. Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, Rachel has been dancing and performing since the age of 7, where she competed and trained in ballet, jazz, pointe, tap, acro, contemporary, lyrical, hip hop, and musical theater. She began her training at Danscape Academy and continued the rest of her training at Nevada Dance Academy with Ava Kerr and Diane Guest-Hoff. In college, Rachel was introduced to the world of Modern and African dance and from there, she knew her love of dance could not be contained. She has had the opportunity and pleasure to work with artists such as Cathy Davalos, Rogelio Lopez, Dana Lawton, Shaunna Vella, Pope Flynn, Andrew Merrell, and Zaquia Salinas. With the SMC Spirit Team, she has had the opportunity to continue her love for sports, be televised, travel, dance and perform in the WCC tournament, NIT tournament, and NCAA tournament. Rachel's piece "Interstellar Realm" (2016), was chosen to represent SMC at the American College Dance Association for the adjudicated concert and was nominated for Jacob's Pillow 2017. Rachel also received a Special Honors in Choreography for "Interstellar Realm." When she has the time, Rachel loves to travel and continue her training in Los Angeles. In her spare time, you will find Rachel either at the beach, at a musical festival, hiking, exploring the Bay Area, or in bed watching Netflix. As a dancer, choreographer, and teacher, Rachel hopes to inspire an empowering movement for change with her love of dance with Bliss Dance Company.