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Alfred Hinkel established his first dance company, Die Namakwalandse Dansgeselskap, in Nababeep and O’kiep in the Northern Cape in 1976. This was also the start of his working relationship with Dawn Langdown and John Linden.

Alfred spent a brief period in Windhoek, Namibia, creating a second dance company, The Dial Dance Company, in collaboration with Dianne Sparks, a local dance teacher. In 1981, he relocated to Cape Town.

In 1986, he bought the Jazzart Dance Studio from Val Stein. The next two decades saw Hinkel transforming this dance studio into one of South Africa’s premier performing arts, training and performance institutions, the renamed Jazzart Dance Theatre. During his tenure as artistic director of Jazzart (June 1986 - February 2010), the impact of the company’s work resonated within the South African dance industry in the realm of both training as well as performance.

To date, Alfred has received ten choreographic awards. He has received a further five awards for his services to the dance community: the 1997 Standard Bank Special Award for his vision, commitment and contribution to dance in South Africa; the 1998 Gordon Reid Fellowship for Dance; the 2004 Tunkie Memorial Award for Outstanding Dedication and Leadership; the 2006 Western Cape Cultural Commission Award for Service to the Dance Community; and the 2008 Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport Annual Cultural Award.

In 2010, Hinkel relocated to his birthplace of O’kiep in the Northern Cape, where he continues to work as dance educationalist and artist, creating new work, teaching children and teenagers and training dance professionals of the highest calibre. Alfred is renowned as a dance educator who is particularly skilled at developing raw talent and achieving outstanding results in a short space of time, and pushing creative boundaries as an artist.