Joel Rivera

Joel Rivera has more than18 years of experience in Hip Hop, Ballet and Contemporary dance styles. In the Hip Hop and Break Dance scene, Joel is known as “Judo”, and has won numerous dance battles such as 2006 Top Finalist for the I.B.E. U.S. qualifier, All the Way Live 2009, B-boy City 2011, and Texas Freestyle Session 2016 among many others. His teaching credits include recent workshops in Qatar , Eritrea and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for American Voices’ YES Academy programs.

Highlighted Dance performances include the 8th Annual Folk Art Festival in China, Super Bowl XXXVIII/LI, Warp Tour 2006/2008, MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew, Elijah A Gibson’s “The Black Card”, and representing Sam Houston State University at Jacobs Pillow with Elijah Gibson’s “We Are Greenwood” and Jared Doster’s “Umbilic” in 2016 and 2018. Teaching and mentoring are Joel’s passions. His experience ranges from working with at-risk youth in Houston’s public schools and The Youth Advocates to university teaching at Sam Houston State University as well as at Bailando and numerous other Houston studios. He is currently a company member with Social Movement Contemporary Dance company.