Alameda High Grad to Compete on 'America's Got Talent'

On Tuesday night at 9 p.m. all eyes in one Bay Area household will be glued to the television set anxiously awaiting the appearance of Alameda dancing phenom Kristina Rodrigues on the NBC show “America’s Got Talent."

Rodrigues, an Alameda High School graduate (who also attended St. Philip Neri Elementary School), is the daughter of Rachel and Tony Rodrigues and the granddaughter of Olga and Felipe D’Cunha, all of Alameda's Harbor Bay. She will be appearing on the show with a dance troupe called Purrfect Angelz, composed of 46 young women dancers who have performed world-wide. Eight members of the group will be featured on the television show. 

She began her dance career as a very young child, performing with Alameda's . Over the years Rodrigues also was in productions of Kids Who Care, the Alameda Civic Light Opera and in school plays. 

After graduating from Alameda High School in 2001, she enrolled at U.C. Berkeley where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Entertainment. At Cal, she served as captain and choreographer of the Dance Team and danced with the N.B.A. Golden State Warriors cheerleaders before moving to Los Angeles where she started touring with Purrfect Angelz. 

The dance troupe is composed mainly of former professional cheerleaders who are also gymnasts, aerial artists, fire twirlers and singers. They perform throughout the country and travel twice annually to war zones to entertain U.S. military troops. 

Rodrigues' family says she is now also pursuing  parallel careers as a director and film editor in hopes of one day moving back to the Bay Area and working in those fields.

In fact, Rodrigues is so much of a home-town girl at heart that she tries to return to Alameda as often as possible in order to spend time with her parents, grandparents, two brothers and a sister. Next month, for instance, she will be returning to the Bay Area to teach a master dance class at Black Hawk in Contra Costa County. 

Rodrigues has performed with artists such as ZZ Top, E40, Sean Kingston, Carmen Electra, Neil Patrick Harris, Calle 13 at the Latin Grammys, and with Shakira on the TV show Dancing with the Stars. She can also be seen in a NIKE commercial called “Trail of Destruction” starring Adrian Peterson. 

In addition to her Alameda family being excited about her performance this week, her great-aunt, Bella Comelo of San Leandro, is bursting with pride over her grand-niece and may be her biggest fan. “She is amazing,” says her aunt, “I hope absolutely everyone will tune into the show."