Natasha Calixte chats with b-girl Rokafella about her work as a Hip-Hop artist, as a woman, the world of mainstream art exploiting the culture and the demand for recognition.
Ana ‘Rokafella’ Garcia is a NYC native who has represented women in Hip-Hop dance professionally over the past two decades. With her husband, veteran B-Boy Kwikstep, she co-founded Full Circle Prod Inc – NYC's only non-profit Break Dance theater company. The company generates theater pieces, original poetry and NYC based dance related events. With the support of the Ford Foundation, Rokafella directed a documentary highlighting the B-Girl lifestyle entitled "All The Ladies Say" where she performs music based on her experiences growing up in Hip-Hop's Mecca.
She has worked within the NYC public school system, exposing young students to the possibility of a career in dance. Presently she is an artist in residence at the American Tap Dance Foundation, an adjunct professor at The New School and a DANCE NYC Annual Symposium planning committee member. In May of 2017 she and Shiro, a Japanese Graffiti artist, launched Shiroka, a t-shirt fashion line.. She has been featured in pivotal Rap music videos, tours, films and commercials as well as choreographed for diverse festivals and concerts such as Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Momma's Hip-Hop Kitchen and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Further, she judges Break Dance competitions. Rokafella is a multifaceted Hip-Hop artist who references street and Latino culture as her foundation.