The University of Texas dance program adds choreographer and educator Joel Valentín-Martínez to its faculty this fall as associate professor with tenure, the College of Fine Arts announced.
Valentín-Martínez danced with the Tony Award-winning Garth Fagan Dance company from 1990-2003. For the past several decades he has developed his own choreographic work and taught at the university level, most recently at Northwestern University. He initiated his theatre/dance training in the San Francisco Bay Area at American Conservatory Theater, Teatro de la Esperanza, Oakland Ensemble Theatre, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, Rosa Montoya’s Bailes Flamencos, Oakland’s Dimensions Dance Theatre and San Francisco State University. He holds a B.A. in Dance Studies from the State University of New York and an M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
His choreographic projects include Pop Refuge, which premiered at Links Hall Chicago in 2019; Sur Grande (2019) commissioned by La Compañia de Danza Contemporanea de Acapulco, Mexico; De aquí, de allá (2019), premiered with Mexico City’s Barro Rojo Artes Escénico; and #rupturapasaje2/#passagebreak2 (2019) with Andanza Compañia Puertorriqueña de Danza Contemporánea in Puerto Rico.
“Joel Valentín-Martínez is a well-established choreographer who brings a diverse range of experiences that will immediately benefit our students,” said Charles O. Anderson, head of the dance division. “Our dancers have been hungry, for more Latinx dance forms, and Joel’s expertise in flamenco and contemporary Latinx performance will be a wonderful asset for our program.”
Valentín-Martínez is that latest in a series of notable hires for UT’s dance program Leah Cox, dean of the American Dance Festival and formerBill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company dancer joined the faculty last year. In 2018, innovative choreographer and scholar Gesel Mason was appointed associate professor.
“Our program has made enormous strides in reshaping and diversifying our curriculum and pedagogical practices in recent years, and Joel Valentín-Martínez’s background opens up wonderful new opportunities to explore intersections between Latinx and African Diasporic performance,” said Anderson.”
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