Who we are

Ballet Goyeska is an Amsterdam-based dance company founded in 2022 by choreographer Henry Rodríguez. The company explores the body as a site where classical beauty and human brutality converge. Drawing on the formal precision of ballet and Escuela Bolera alongside Afro-diasporic embodiment, ritual, and surreal imagery, Ballet Goyeska reimagines ballet not as a fixed or exclusively European tradition, but as a living and evolving artistic language: one that is culturally porous and responsive to the complexities of today's society.

Created by Henry Rodríguez, a Cuban interdisciplinary artist based in the Netherlands, Ballet Goyeska’s creative work seeks innovative ways to communicate with audiences, reflecting surreal and dreamlike choreographic landscapes rooted in an innovative and groundbreaking choreographic vision he calls Surrealist Majismo. It transforms Spanish cultural memory while altering the universe of 18th and 19th century Spanish majismo and juxtaposing his Afro-diasporic embodied knowledge into contemporary works of dance, ritual, and imagination. 

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“Our mission is to create community through dance. Ballet Goyeska offers unique and inspiring performances and dance classes to move, create, and socialize in a unique space where diversity and creative positivity reign.”

Ballet Goyeska reimagines ballet through a new choreographic language that transforms Spanish cultural memory and Afro-diasporic embodied knowledge into contemporary works of dance, ritual, and imagination.

Through original creations, the company explores the meeting point between heritage and innovation, tradition and transformation, history and dream.

Inspired by the visionary worlds of Francisco de Goya, the refinement of Escuela Bolera, and the ancestral power of Afro-Cuban movement traditions, Ballet Goyeska creates performances that reveal hidden connections between cultures, histories, and collective memories.

The company's mission is not to preserve the past as a static inheritance, but to activate it as a living force capable of generating new artistic futures.

Through choreography, Ballet Goyeska seeks to:

* Develop an original movement language rooted in Spanish and Afro-Atlantic traditions.

* Create ambitious contemporary dance works that speak to diverse international audiences.

* Reimagine cultural heritage through experimentation, imagination, and artistic risk.

* Build bridges between European and diasporic histories through embodied performance.

* Establish Amsterdam as a home for innovative intercultural dance creation.

* Cultivate spaces where ritual, theatre, memory, and movement converge.

At its heart, Ballet Goyeska believes that dance can transform inherited histories into living experiences and that the body is a place where cultures do not simply coexist, but create something entirely new.

Ballet Goyeska does not recreate tradition.

It awakens it.

It does not preserve memory.

It sets memory in motion.

Our Core Mission

MEET THE FOUNDER

Henry Rodríguez is an interdisciplinary artist, dancer, choreographer, dance educator and music maker born in Cuba and who is currently based in the Netherlands. His expertise was forged in places such as the National School of Dance in Cuba, Ballet Español de Cuba, Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Dutch National Ballet Academy, Pyntago Electronic Music Academy, among others. Rodríguez's work has been presented and awarded at festivals such as Florence Dance Festival, AmsterDans International Competition, Burgos & New York International Choreographic Contest, Bevrijdingsfestival, Electropark Festival, and the Amsterdam Fringe Festival, where he won the Fringe At Best Award with the piece Pulling Scales. Alongside his artistic work, he teaches workshops and classes that share his creative process and movement research with a wide range of audiences.

“My work is an amalgamation of eclectic scenarios where the human body unravels its deepest mysteries in a space where kindness, honesty and playfulness intersect.”


BIO

He received his early education in dance at the UAD Ballet Español de Cuba, under the direction of Eduardo Veitia. During his studies as a seventeen-year-old he began to perform with Ballet Español de Cuba in ballets such as Carmen, La Casa Alba, El Sombrero de los Tres Picos, La Traviata, El Fantasma, Aquel Brujo Amor, Frida, Danzando Sueños, etc. in events such as La Huella de España, the International Ballet Festival of Havana, among others.

After graduation from the National School of Dance in 2011, he received an apprenticeship with Rosario Cárdenas Danza Combinatoria, directed by Rosario Cárdenas. During his time with Danza Combinatoria he performed in works such as Maria Viván, El Monte, Zona Cuerpo, Punto Ciego, El Ascenso, and his very first Spanish-contemporary choreographic work ‘Compás en Bulerías’, among others. Alternatively he worked with Cuban-Spanish choreographer Pepe Hevia and with companies Ballet Rakatan, chiefed by Nilda Guerra and with Danza Alternativa Así Somos, directed by Lourdes Cajigal and founded by American dancer and choreographer Lorna Burdsall. He joined Danza Contemporánea de Cuba in 2016 and since worked in pieces such as The Listening Room, Las paredes se van, Matria Etnocentra, among others by international choreographers Julio Cesar Iglesias, Theo Clinkard and George Cespedes. During his time with Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, the company toured worldwide to renowned theatres, such as the Barbican Hall, the Wales Millennium Centre, Royal Concert Hall Nottingham among others.

Henry moved to the Netherlands to study Modern Theatre Dance as a guest student at the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten. Alternatively, he has also worked with Amsterdam based choreographers Iris Reyes and Faizah Grootens, and began creating his own small-scale produced performances featured on European and international festivals and contests such as Florence Dance Festival, AmsterDans International Competition, Burgos and New York International Choreographic Contest, Bevrijdingsfestival, Electropark Festival and among others, the Amsterdam Fringe Festival where he has been a winning choreographer with the piece “Pulling Scales”.

In 2022 Henry created Ballet Goyeska (formally, GOYES’KA), a dance company and platform where he is delving into his choreographic practice and own music production in which he adopts the name of L’DELTA. In 2024, he completed the BA Teacher of Classical Ballet program at the Nationale Balletacademie, Academie voor Theater en Dans (Amsterdamse Hogeschool van de Kunsten).

With a distinct movement language known by a powerful and innovative physicality, Henry’s work progresses consciously and continuously from project to project. Together to his creations, he gives dance lessons and workshops in relation to his creative process and new works.

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Awards, Residencies, Festivals & Commissions

Art, discipline, and passion that transform every step into a story

Want to learn more about our classes, schedules, and presentations?

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Our services

Clases de ballet para principiantes, intermedios y avanzados

Aprende la técnica clásica de la escuela Vaganova y elementos fundamentales de la Escuela Cubana de ballet

Desde 22 EUR

Coreografías para eventos

Diseñamos piezas únicas para eventos especiales, cenas y espectáculos corporativos.

Desde 300 EUR

Taller intensivo de danza contemporánea, moderna y afrocubana (en linea y presencial)

Explora la expresión corporal en un modo dinámico y versátil

Desde 75,99 EUR

Entrenamiento privado

Sesiones uno a uno enfocadas en técnica, flexibilidad y fuerza.

Desde 60 EUR

Entrenamiento privado

Perfecciona tu estilo y prepárate para audiciones

Desde 60 EUR

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Two ballet dancers practicing in a studio with black curtains, wearing gray tights and black tops, performing graceful poses.
A young woman wearing a form-fitting, long-sleeved red dress standing on a beige floor against a black curtain backdrop, looking downward with a neutral expression.
Two ballet dancers practicing in a studio with a black curtain backdrop. The male dancer stands upright with his arm extended, wearing a black sheer top and gray leggings. The female dancer, positioned near his waist with one arm resting on his leg and her head on his hip, wears a black top and gray leggings.
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