Current Students

Ellen Bartel

ELLEN BARTEL is known locally in Austin as a notorious “dance rabble rouser.” In 2008 the Austin Chronicle “Best of” poll dubbed her a “dance mobilizer” and a “dance phenomenon” for spearheading the Big Range Austin Dance Festival, the first in Austin since 2000.

Ellen graduated from the State University of New York at Potsdam in 1993, and soon after relocating to Austin she quickly found herself deeply embedded in the Austin dance community. From 1995 to 2001 she directed the improvisational dance group The Creeps. During this time she developed strong connections within the local arts community, finding a home at Center Studio, a space she managed for nine years. In 2000 Ellen founded Spank Dance Company which, after a decade of extensive self-producing, is now a non-profit arts organization. The City of Austin Cultural Arts Division has awarded SDC funding since its inception to create new work. Ellen has created nearly 20 new dance works (five are evening length), performed nearly 60 improvisations, 24 one minute dances, and spearheaded the annual Dance Carousel, Big Range Austin Dance Festival, and Hot September Flurries (2005-2007). She also co-founded the Austin Independent Choreographers, an organization dedicated to the advocacy of emerging and independent choreographers. In 2007 she was nominated for a Critics Table award for Best “Dance Concert” and for “Best Choreography” for Cool.Dance. & 4Red Lines. "Not only a much-needed leader and collaborator for the indie dance scene," says the Austin American-Statesman, "Bartel continues to deliver with sharp new creations of her own." Ellen was noted in the Austin Chronicle for numerous Top Ten Dance Events, and in the Austin American-Statesman was named to the Fortunate 500 list of the top 500 “movers and shakers” in Austin.

Ellen has also choreographed for theater, fashion shows, a Domino's Pizza television commercial, and has collaborated with artists from multiple disciplines. She has danced in 20 original works by Austin choreographers including eight seasons with Ariel Dance Theater. As an instructor, Ellen has been teaching modern dance for a decade, most recently at Tapestry Dance Academy.

While an M.F.A. in Dance graduate student at the University of Texas, Ellen will continue to produce Dance Carousel, and Big Range Austin Dance Festival, participate in monthly Butoh improvisations at Salvage Vanguard Theater and direct Spank Dance Company.

Michelle Parkins

CHELL PARKINS is a dancer and choreographer who utilizes her strengths as a musician, actress and competitive triathlete to create original multidisciplinary works. Chell had many epiphanic experiences at the theatre and symphony as a child. As a result, she began her studies in ballet and flute at a young age. As a teenager, she joined track and her high school swim teams, learning to discipline and push her body to its outer limits. She spent her holidays traveling between her family's summer cottage in Canada and her mother's home in Puerto Rico which later inspired her to travel throughout Europe and Mexico. She became fascinated with the boundless opportunities to express herself without words and across many cultures and forms. Chell studied acting at Washington University in St. Louis where she co-starred in two plays and co-founded the comedy improvisational group Mama's Potroast along side actor Peter Sarsgaard. After studying with Ellen Burstyn and Shelley Winters of Actor's Studio, she turned her focus to the language of modern dance. In 1993, she attended Harvard Summer Dance Intensive, where she studied choreography under Joe Goode and began to draw upon all her resources to create works with dialogue, live music and movement. While attending the Dance Center of Columbia College in Chicago in 1994, Chell won a Community Scholarship. She has been a member of MADCO, Steamroller, Bibliodance, Forklift Dance Works and co-founded the dance improvisation group Fishbowl Soldiers. While in San Francisco, she founded Brigid's Daisy and created two evening length works, one which was highlighted at Joe Goode's Bread and Butter Series.

Upon her relocation to Austin in 1998, she continued creating work under the name Chell Garcia-Trias for MOMfest, Frontera Fest, Dance Carousel and Big Range Dance Festival. She was commissioned to return to Washington University to teach a Contact Improvisation class and create a new work. She has taught dancers, actors and musicians ages 2 to 65 and is currently pursuing her M.F.A. in Dance while exploring the art of playwriting.

Alvin Rangel

ALVIN RANGEL began training in ballet and jazz in his native Puerto Rico. When he obtained a White House internship at the age of 20, he moved to Washington, D.C. Still enamored with dance, Alvin stayed in the United States to further his studies at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music.

From 1997 and 2004, he performed with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC) in Ohio. By way of DCDC he had the privilege of working with some of the most influential choreographers in modern dance, originating roles in works by Bill T. Jones, Bebe Miller, Dwight Rhoden, Donald McKayle, Ronald K. Brown, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Doug Varone and Kevin Ward. He also participated in a documentary film co-produced by PBS and American Dance Festival titled Free to Dance.

Alvin has a strong passion for teaching. While a dancer in DCDC, he taught ballet and yoga to the company, as well as to its pre-professional training wing. His early upbringing in a poor Puerto Rican neighborhood has helped him connect dance to students from all walks of life, and allowed him to conduct master classes and workshops throughout the United States, Russia, Poland and Puerto Rico.

In Dayton, he mentored students in Stivers School for the Arts and created choreographies for their repertoire. His choreography has been performed by Ballet New England, Performing Arts School in San Juan, DCDC-2, and Episcopal High School. Alvin choreographed and co-created an outreach lecture demonstration program for DCDC that toured nationally to 27 cities as part of the Flight Project; which celebrated the 100th year of the first powered flight.

He returned to Puerto Rico to complete his Bachelors of Education in teaching English as second language (ESL), concurrently working as instructor, dancer and choreographer for Andanza Contemporary Dance Company (2004 – 2006). Upon graduation, Alvin relocated to Houston to teach ESL and Spanish in the public school system and was involved in the Houston dance community as a dance instructor and guest artist with Ad Deum Dance Company.