For over 20 years, Alvin Rangel has enjoyed an international career as a performer, choreographer and educator. He began his professional career performing ballet and jazz in his native Puerto Rico.
Rangel is a Professor of Dance at California State University, Fullerton, teaching in the areas of dance composition, improvisation, contemporary dance, pedagogy, Horton technique, African American Concert Dance and dance history. Since 2018, Alvin has been traveling to Australia to teach Horton Technique at the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association Dance College (NAISDA). NAISDA Dance College is Australia’s premier Indigenous training college with a proud tradition of producing the next generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance artists. He has taught dance at university and high school dance programs, community dancers, and professional and pre-professional dance companies in the United States, Russia, Australia, Taiwan, Poland, Colombia, Guatemala, Argentina, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
As a professional dancer Alvin has performed at: Joyce Theatre, New York Live Arts, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Centro de Bellas Artes de Puerto Rico, Teatro La Perla, NJ Performing Arts Center, American Dance Festival, among others. He continues to perform with his own company, In-Version Dance Project and as a guest artist with the internationally acclaimed Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC). In 2019, he performed with DCDC during their 50th Anniversary Gala, and at the Lincoln Center, Donald McKayle’s Rainbow Round My Shoulder, hosted by the Paul Taylor American Modern Dance Company. In 2016, he danced in Rainbow Round My Shoulder during Paul Taylor American Modern Dance Spring Season at the Lincoln Center. For this performance, DCDC received the coveted Bessie Award for 2016 New York Dance and Performance Award for Outstanding Revival.
For nearly a decade, he performed with DCDC, where originated roles and worked with Bill T. Jones, Bebe Miller, Dwight Rhoden, Donald McKayle, Eleo Pomare, Ronald K. Brown, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Doug Varone, Debbie Blunden-Diggs and Kevin Ward. He also performed pieces by Donald Byrd, José Limón, Diane McIntyre, Sir Warren Spears, Tally Beatty, Shapiro and Smith, Terrence Greene and David Reuille. He participated in the PBS documentary titled Free to Dance and the American Dance Festival’s film Dancing in the Light. In 2001, while dancing with DCDC, he received the Josie Award for Best Male Concert Dancer. Rangel has performed classical and contemporary ballet repertoire with Ballet Señorial, Charleston Ballet Theatre, Ballet New England, New England Ballet, Owensboro Ballet Theatre, Woodlands Ballet Theatre, University of Cincinnati, University of Texas at Austin, among others.
His project, Tango Vesre [Inverted Tango] has received international recognition. In 2015, Tango Vesre was featured in the international Kuandu Arts Festival in Taipei, Taiwan. Audiences and the Fresh Fruit Festival Board of Directors gave Alvin the Fruit of Distinction Award for outstanding work in dance with Tango Vesre during New York City’s 2013 Fresh Fruit Festival. The Austin Critic’s Table nominated the project for Best Short Work and gave Alvin the award for Best Dancer during the 2011-12 season. Tango Vesre has been performed at: Highway Performance Space in Los Angeles (2016), the VII International Queer Tango Festival of Buenos Aires, Argentina (2013); the Congress of Research in Dance/Society of History Dance Scholars Conference (2013); the Wild Project in New York City (2013); and Dickinson College (2014). His choreography has been performed by companies in Mexico, United States and Puerto Rico. Alvin choreographed and co-created an outreach lecture demonstration program for the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company that toured nationally to 27 cities as part of the Flight Project.
Rangel taught, danced and choreographed for Andanza: Compañia Puertoriqueña de Danza Contemporánea and performed as guest artist with Ad Deum Dance Company, and Dance Theatre X, an Afro-contemporary dance company. Alvin has also worked and performed the works of choreographers: Charlotte Boye-Christensen, Alejandro Cervera, Charles O. Anderson, David Justin, Andrea Beckham, Carlos Ivan Santos, Rodney Rivera, Lolita Villanúa, Randal Flinn, William Pizzuto and Lorn McDougal.
Alvin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education, English as Second Language from the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, and a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with Yoga Alliance, he has been a yoga practitioner for over 15 years; he received his yoga training in India.
Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:
I recognize that our individual differences deepen our understanding of each other and the world. I respect and value, people of all ethnicities, body types, genders, gender identities, religions, ages, sexual orientations, abilities, socioeconomic backgrounds, regions, and nationalities. A dedication to inclusiveness requires respecting what others say, their right to say it, and the thoughtful consideration of others' communication. This commitment shapes my core expectation for behavior inside and outside of the classroom/studio and workplace.