Dufftin Garcia (he/him) has been teaching and choreographing with National Dance Institute (NDI) since 1997. He was born and raised in New York City where he began his professional dance training at the age of eight on a scholarship to the Elliot Feld Ballet. Dufftin joined NDI in 1988, performing in every NDI Event of the Year until his graduation in 1992. He went on to receive the Van Lier Scholarship to study with the lower division at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. 

Dufftin is currently a Teaching Artist and choreographer, and is a member of NDI’s Board of Directors. In 1997, Dufftin served as Associate Director to Founder Jacques d’Amboise for NDI’s first International Residency in Israel and Palestine. He also assisted Mr. d’Amboise in a collaborative project with the pioneers of Artificial Intelligence, Emeritus Seymour Papert and Marvin Minsky at the Media Lab at MIT in 2003. In 2004, he served as Associate Director to Mr. d’Amboise for NDI’s cultural exchange residency in Shanghai, China, and since 2011, has been a part of the training team on the NDI/China Project, Dancing Into The Future. Dufftin was Artistic Director of Trenton Education Dance Institute (TEDI), one of NDI’s associate programs for 11 years.