Rodney Rivera

Rodney trained at the Julian Blanco Classical Ballet School of Puerto Rico, the Ballet Concierto of Puerto Rico (BCPR) Conservatory, Point Park University and Pro-Danza of Cuba under the guidance of Jose Pares, Joaquin Banegas, Maria Carrera and Laura Alonso. He was a principal soloist with (BCPR) and Principal Soloist with Connecticut Ballet. He performed leading roles in ballets including La Fille Mal Gardee, Don Quixote, Le Corsaire, Paquita, Giselle, and Sleeping Beauty, as well as having many world premieres choreographed for him. He was a dancer, one of the main choreographers, and faculty member at Andanza and Artistic Director Ballet Brio, two leading contemporary ballet companies in Puerto Rico. Rodney has toured the globe as a choreographer, in addition to working as judge of international ballet competitions. He is a master ballet teacher, whose students have gone on to dance at the School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem, and the Martha Graham Dance Company. He was the Artistic Director of the School of the Performing Arts at Bayamon and has received honors from the Puerto Rican Government for his contributions to the arts and education. His ballet teachers include Vladimir Issaev, Carlota and Maria Carrera, José Parés, Joaquín Banegas, and Silvia Marichal. He was awarded a scholarship from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA, where he received ballet training with Roberto Munoz and Laura Alonso. In 1994, and under Lolita San Miguel’s tutelage, he represented PR in the Fifth International Ballet Competition at Jackson, Mississippi. Being trained by María Carrera, he became the first Puerto Rican male dancer to participate in this international event. 
 
As principal soloist with Ballet Concierto of Puerto Rico, he performed leading roles in La Fille Mal Gardee, Le Corsaire, Don Quixote, Paquita, Flames of Paris, Giselle, and Sleeping Beauty, among others. Leading roles in world premieres were created for Rodney by Carlos Iván Santos, Antonio Gomes, Jesus Miranda, Lolita Villanua, Michael Uthoff, Brett Raphael, Alberto Méndez, Vladimir Issaev, Nicholas Beriosoff, Christian Holder, Fernando Bujones, and Ana Sanchez Colberg, among others.
 
In 2000, he became part of Andanza’s first members, where he was both a dancer and part of the faculty. He was one of the leading choreographers at Andanza for over five years. With Andanza, he choreographed “La Familia de Todos Nosotros” (2004), Transito, Tu o Yo, Cuerpo (2005), Erase (2006), Absurdo (2007), Sed (2008), and Andanza Cósmica (2009).
 
His Ballet Brio debut started with the piece Donde Estan? which won a gold medal in Certamen Interamericano de Danza, Argentina in 2005. He proceeded to choreograph Eso Que Llamas (2006), Tango Mundo (2007), Olas y Arenas (2005), Semillas (2004), 7 Pecados, Judas, Memory and Glass (2003), Guardadito, En Cuatro Tiempos(2007), Pica Pica, Romani (2009), Lady Godiva,” Rebote”, El IdiomaAnterior,  Ojos de Sordo, Odios de Ciego and Bomraiz (2012), among others.  For Balleteatro Nacional of Puerto Rico he has created, “Techo de Cristal”, “El Regreso”, and “Corasi”.
 

His prolific career as a choreographer include collaborations with Island Moving Company, Ballets de San Juan, Zig Zag Ballet, Andanza PR, Connecticut Ballet, Ballet Municipal of San Juan, Ballet Concierto,  of P.R., Hermanos Cepeda Foundation, Ballet Brio, Point Park University, Balleteatro Nacional of P.R. San Antonio Ballet, and Teatro Repertorio of the University of Puerto Rico, where he was the resident choreographer and has staged the musicals, “Evita” , “Les Miserables”, “The Sound of Music” and “Into The Woods”. 
 
His work has been presented successfully in international festivals such as the Miami International Ballet Festival, Festival de Ballet de la Habana Cuba (2016), Aquin Festival Haiti, All Stars of Dance Gala IN Orlando FL and Romania, Festival de Coreografos de Ballet Concierto de PR (2013), Festival Internacional de Teatro de PR (2005), World Ballet Competition, Green Street Studios, MA., among others. Also, he has created works for movies and for opera. He has danced in major theaters around the globe including Taiwan, Cuba, Haiti, Egypt, Japan, USA, Martinique, Aruba, Mexico, Spain, and Italy.
 
In 2010 The Institute of Culture of Puerto Rico recognized him as the best choreographer of the year for his enormous contribution to dance in PR. That same year, he became the artistic director at Ballet Brio.
 
Since 2013, Vasilie Petrutiu, founder of World Ballet Competition (WBC), has extended him an invitation to become part of the jury and resident choreographer of the renowned competition. Some of his works have been performed in the “All Stars of Dance Gala” of this competition. That same year, he became the Artistic Director of the School of the Performing Arts at Bayamon where he oversaw a variety of students from different programs, including dance, theater, music, orchestra, choir, folklore, among others.   
 
During the 2015 summer months, the renowned producer Piers Playfair commissioned him a work entitled “Shostakovich En Tres”, where he worked with principal dancers from the Pennsylvania Ballet, Hungarian National Ballet Company, and New Jersey Ballet. He was also asked to join the Faculty at the Sagrado Corazon University Undergraduate’s Coda 21 Dance Program where he was a professor. He has established himself as a master ballet instructor. Some of his students have gone on to dance with ABT, NYCB, DTH, SAB, Eglevsky Ballet, Connecticut Ballet, and Martha Graham Dance Co.
 
Rivera’s latest work, “Lo Que No Fue” (2018) and “Memorias y Vidrios” (2018) have been presented successfully at Festival de Ballet de La Habana Cuba, Boston Ma., Newport, and Kansas City, with great reviews by the audience and press. In 2019 he was appointed artistic director of the Dance Barns at the National Dance Institute of New Mexico, one of the largest dance organizations in the United States.

In 2018-19 Rivera has been appointed resident choreographer at Island Moving Company (IMC) and for the World Ballet Competition since 2017. In 2019 the Puerto Rico Department of State granted him the Proclamation of the Governor for his contribution to art, culture, and his enormous contribution to dance. In November 2019, the National Dance Institute of New Mexico (NDI) appointed him artistic director of the Dance Barns. For NDI he has created “Piazzollisimo”, “The Dancer and The Dance”, “Angels” and choreographed some characters and scenes from the Dance Bran’s “Carnival of Animals”, version of 2019 and the original version of “The Little Prince” full-length ballet.

• Ballet Master
• Ballet Teacher
• Ballet Curriculum Director 
• Dance School Director 
• Artistic Director 
• Executive Director 
• Choreographer 
• Resident Choreographer 
• Ballet/Dance Coach
• Ballet Competition Judge 
• Event Producer 
• Musical Theater Resident Choreographer 

• Cuban Ballet Methodology - Prof. Joaquin Banegas(National Ballet of Cuba)
• Acting - University of Puerto Rico Recinto Rio Pusers
• Martha Graham Technique- Vaganova Technique, Musical Theater Point Park University 
• Royal Academy of Dancing- Prof. Carlotta Carrera
• Dream Project- National Dance Institute of New Mexico & New York