The Artist

For over 30 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, currently serving as Dance Program Coordinator and Vice-Chair of the Theatre and Dance Department. His areas of teaching are: dance composition, improvisation, contemporary dance, dance pedagogy, Horton technique, Afro-contemporary, African American Concert Dance, yoga and dance history. He also teaches yoga and dance at Fullerton College. Since 2018, Alvin has traveled 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 tradition of producing the next generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance artists.  In Australia he has also taught for the Pre-professional training program of  the world renowned Sydney Dance Company.  Rangel has taught dance in the United States, Russia, Australia, Taiwan, Poland, Colombia, Guatemala, Argentina, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Alvin continues to perform as a guest artist with dance companies throughout the country. In 2019, he performed with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (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 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 he 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 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] 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 in the VII International Queer Tango Festival of Buenos Aires, Argentina, New York, Pennsylvania and California. His choreography has been performed by companies and university dance programs in Mexico, United States and Puerto Rico. 

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 with Yoga Alliance, receiving his training in India.