Quick Facts
Biography
Ana Garcia (born 1971), better known by her stage name Rokafella, is a breakdancer and dance teacher.
Raised in Spanish Harlem by Puerto Rican immigrants, Garcia grew up seeing hip hop performed in her own neighborhood in the late 1970s and 80s. As a girl, she would stop and watch the neighborhood boys breakdance in amazement, but was unable to participate because she was too young and under the impression that it was something girls could not do. She admits that the cultural norms of her ethnic background contributed to this mindset, stating “being of Latino background there was a difference between what the males could get away with and what the females had to do".
In 1991, veteran breakdancer Kwikstep took Garcia on as a mentee. She would go on to dance with many crews in New York City, eventually earning the nickname 'Rokafella'. With her now-husband, Kwikstep, Rokafella founded and performs with the non-profit hip-hop dance company Full Circle Productions to empower young dancers through the positive power of hip-hop. In 2005 she received a grant from the National Association of Latino Arts & Culture.