Alfonso Rivera

Category: Actor and teacher
 Curriculum

Alfonso is a graduate of Physical Theatre from the Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático de Madrid, Spain, 1999-2003. He completed the program of European Theatre Arts during an Erasmus-Exchange to Rose Bruford College, London 2001-2002. He also holds a postgraduate diploma from the Scuola Internazionale di Commedia dell´Arte Venezia, Italy (2003) where he trained and got specialising as the character of Arlequino and where he built his own commedia masks.
He was awarded a national grant to study at the Ecole de Mime Corporel Dramatique L´Ange Fou (2004-2005), London, where he trained in corporal mime (Decroux´s technique) with Etienne Decroux´s last assistants, Steve Watson and Corinne Soum. He has also trained butoh dance for a year with Wendel Wells in Madrid (2005-2006) and other butoh practitioners as Yumiko Yoshioka, Katsura Kan and Marie-Gabrielle Rotie. Other training includes workshops with the Polish physical theatre company The Song of the Goat, Wroclaw.

 Work & Activities

During 2005 he toured internationally with the Spanish physical theatre company Gato Negro performing Pedro in Un Tal Pedro, a contemporary version of Peer Gynt by Ibsen, and winning several international awards as “Premio Jóvenes Creadores de la Comunidad de Madrid”, “Istrapolitana Internatinal Festival”, Bratislava, and the “Peer Gynt Award”, Norway. In 2005 he is awarded a grant from the Fundación Barrié de la Maza for doing his Masters Degree in Movement Studies at Central (2006-2007).
Alfonso has lead workshops in movement, mime and physical theatre, teaching at a number of schools including Central School of Speech and Drama (London), The Academy of the Science of Acting and Directing (London), Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático de Madrid (Spain), Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático de Vigo (Spain), Facultad de Música de León (Spain), Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca (Rumania).
At the moment Alfonso holds a permanent position as movement teacher at the Escuela superior de Arte Dramático de Galicia, Spain, where he teaches movement, mime and acrobatics. He is also head of the Department of International Exchanges.