Irene Álvarez began her education in Spanish classical dance at the age of 9 with the great bailaora Matilde Coral and the Royal Conservatory of Music and Dance of Seville, where she obtained her higher degree in 1993. Her style follows a classical line and is especially linked to the elegance of the so-called Sevillian School. Since then she has continued to care for and perfect her flamenco formation under the direction of teachers such as El Güito, Manolo Marin, Javier Latorre, Angel Atienza, Manuel Betanzos and Isabel Bayón, of whom she has repeated courses at the Festival de Jerez 2009/2010/ 2012/2018.
At a very young age, she took part in the film Sevillanas (Carlos Saura, 1992), but it is from 2002 when she begins to tour tablaos and international theaters with, among others, guitarist Antonio Andrade and singer José Parrondo, as well as the guitarists Rafael Cortés or Mariano Martín. Especially with the bailaor Federico Ordoñez with whom she formed an artistic duo between 2008 and 2010.
As a versatile dancer and with the desire to experiment with the connections and disparities in reference to other musical expressions, her collaborations with artists from different cultural fields have materialized in crossover projects of various kinds: “Antífona”, produced by Alexander Gavilán together with the indian singer Madhu Singh, or the work “Carmen”, in the opera and flamenco version by Tania Kross and Thijs Borsten (2017/2019) with which she has successfully completed a tour of up to 70 concerts in the Netherlands. The duo project with the violinist Pablo Rodríguez on Canarian folklore, „Identidades“, 2020, with which they won the First Prize for short film at the Rincón del Emigrante Canario, or the collaborations with the Amsterdams Andalusisch Orkest together with Jalal Chekara or the BVR Flamenco Big Band (Bernard Van Rossum).
Among hier most emblematic productions is the co-production MUSA, a duo with the classical guitarist and singer María Marín, the work “Dreaming Carmen” (Work in acts on the myth of Merimé with the bailaora Virginia Delgado, 2019),“ The mysteries of Rosario” (about the life of Rosario La Mejorana, mother of Pastora Imperio, 2021) or “Cromática” (2022, a trio work with violinist Pablo Rodríguez and Alexander Gavilán).
Irene combines her love for the stage with her teaching work at CODARTS – University for the Arts, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.