Karla Puno Garcia

So You Think You Can Dance

Our community are very proud of immense talent Karla Puno Garcia had. Congrats Karla for successfully putting the Philippines into international pedestal. She was eliminated on July 2, 2009.

Karla Puno Garcia grew up in Oxon Hill, Maryland - a suburb of the Washington, DC Metropolitan area, She received her dance training at Fran's Studio of Dance and started competing nationally at the age of six, copping a number of dance titles throughout her elementary (St. Columba School) and high school (Bishop Ireton) years. She performed with Debbie Allen in "Brothers of the Knight" - a Kennedy Center production, and at the 2001 NBA All-Star Game at the MCI Center. She received a scholarship to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she obtained a BFA in Dance with a minor in Journalism. Karla became dance chair and choreographer for IFA - the International Filipino Association dance team at NYU. During her final year of college, she landed a spot on the Broadway show HOT FEET through an open call for dancers in New York city. She was the youngest cast member of this dance musical set to the hits of Earth, Wind, and Fire. She has performed at Carnival NY and LA with Yussuf Nassir, Jonathan McGill, and Bulletyme; and appeared at a 2007 Rite Aid Industrial; She recently shot the latest Lucille Roberts Fitness commercial.

In 2007, she was a Las Vegas finalist on Fox's So You Think You Can Dance Season 3. Later that year, she was in the ensemble of the Rockettes show touring in Florida. From Florida, Karla immediately joined the National Tour of the Broadway hit WICKED, going on the road for seven months. Now residing in Brooklyn, New York, she teaches at select studios all over the east coast and continues to perform. She is a member of the Boogie Bots crew (from MTV's America's Best Dance Crew show, Season 2).

On FOX's reality series So You Think You Can Dance this season 5, she has hurdled the Denver audition with a ticket straight to the Las Vegas semifinals. After four grueling days of different genres of dance,the judges have now annointed her with a slot in the Top 20.

Karla constantly strives for creative growth, as she aims to combine influences from her technical background with different textures of contemporary, jazz, and hip hop. She believes that dance is an evolving art, with room for new ideas, bold innovation and a myriad of cultural influences.

She revels in the richness of her Filipino-American heritage and in the friends that inspire her. She thanks God for all the gifts He has given her.

Karla Garcia Is On Fox’s Top 20

Karla Garcia, 23, daughter of well-known Filipino American layer Rodney Garcia of Oxon Hill Maryland, is one of the top 20 finalists in Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance” summer season No. 1 series.

Filipino American leaders are urging the community to watch the show every Wednesday and to vote for Karla so she can emerge as one of the top finalists or even the winner.

In a press statement, Fox TV said the judges of this summer’s series on June 5th picked Season Five’s Top 20 finalist after thousands of auditions across the country and the grueling callbacks in Las Vegas.

It said the top girls include Randi Evans, Karla Garcia, Caitlin Kinney, Asuka Kondoh, Janette Manrara, Jeanine Mason, Kayla Radomski, Melissa Sandvig, Paris Torres and Ashley Valerio; and the top guys are Kupono Aweau, Tony Bellissimo, Brandon Bryant, Phillip Chbeeb, Jason Glover, Vitolio Jeune, Max Kapitannikov, Evan Kasprzak, Ade Obayomi and Jonathan Platero.

The competition began Wednesday, June 10 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) as the Top 20 finalists danced for the judges’ praise and America’s votes on the season’s first performance show.

The Top 20 are paired into 10 couples who will each work with a world-renowned choreographer to compose a dance routine representing their assigned genre. After each Wednesday performance show, the phone lines will open and the fate of these 20 finalists - one of whom will be the named America’s Favorite Dancer - will be left up to the voting fans.

On the live results shows beginning Thursday, June 11 (9:00-10:00 PM ET live PT/tape-delayed), the three couples with the lowest number of votes will be announced. Each week the six contestants comprising the bottom three couples are given a chance to perform solo routines in the hopes of convincing the judges to keep them in the competition. The judges then decide which dancers stay and which two are eliminated. If a couple is split apart, the two individual dancers who remain become a couple the following week.

Karla is a graduate of New York University and now resides in New York. Her early dance experience included learning traditional Filipino folk dancing. She performed on Broadway in “Hot Feet,” danced in the ensemble of the “Radio City Christmas Spectacular” and went on to tour with “Wicked.” She is a member of “Boogie Bots Crew.”

Karla Puno Garcia grew up in Oxon Hill, Maryland - a suburb of the Washington, DC Metropolitan area, She received her dance training at Fran’s Studio of Dance and started competing nationally at the age of six, copping a number of dance titles throughout her elementary (St. Columba School) and high school (Bishop Ireton) years.

She performed with Debbie Allen in “Brothers of the Knight” - a Kennedy Center production. Karla received a scholarship to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she obtained a BFA in Dance with a minor in Journalism.

She became dance chair and choreographer for the International Filipino Association dance team at NYU. During her final year of college, she landed a spot on the Broadway show HOT FEET through an open call for dancers in New York city. She was the youngest cast member of this dance musical set to the hits of Earth, Wind, and Fire. Karla appeared at a 2007 Rite Aid Industrial; and she recently shot the latest Lucille Roberts Fitness commercial for television.

In 2007, she was in the ensemble of the Rockettes show touring in Florida. From Florida, Karla immediately joined the National Tour of the Broadway hitWICKED, going on the road for seven months. She is a member of the Boogie Bots crew (from MTV’s Americans Best Dance Crew show, Season 2).

On FOX’s reality series, she hurdled the Denver audition with a ticket straight to the Las Vegas semifinals. After four grueling days of different genres of dance, the judges gave her a slot in the Top 20 Karla’s mother is Ella Puno Garcia. Her sister, Jitter, is known for her singing together with her brother, Rocky, in a family band with their father, Rod. Karla wanted to dance to one of Rod’s compositions called “Nasaan” — but the producers told her policy restricts using work of a family member.

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• • June 17, 2009 -- Karla Garcia one of the top 20 finalists in Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance”