About

GOYES’KA

GOYES’KA is a dance and physical theatre emergent project-based company created by myself, Henry Rodríguez a Cuban born artist currently based in the Netherlands. Characterised by a rich visual and an original language, the creative work in GOYES’KA hopes to find innovative ways to communicate with the audience, reflecting surreal and dreamlike choreographic landscapes inspired in the universe of Majismo from the 18th and 19th century Spain. The main motivation that fuelled this project was exploring the common canons that for very long time have best represented the Spanish dance art, then dissecting them and finally deconstructing and juxtaposing them to other expressions to give place to novel and groundbreaking interpretations. Hence the title GOYES’KA, a deconstructed form of the word: goyesca which in this very context refers to the goyesca dances, natives of the previously mentioned period.

The movement language of this project is constantly morphing, however it is essentially sustained by the characteristics of resilience and disruption. These two attributes and features are fundamental to understanding the conceptual foundation of our dances in GOYES’KA, rooted in a social, political and artistic phenomena such as Majismo. With special attention on the creative and artistic process, this project challenges and deconstructs eighteenth-century European conceptions of gender, national character, and noble identity to further juxtaposing them to Afro-Caribbean contexts of repression, ancestral power and collectiveness.

Surreal Majismo

My Choreographic Vision

The universe of the Majos is a starting point for generating my work. Majos were people from the lower classes of Spanish society in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were widely represented in the paintings of Francisco de Goya. I am inspired by this universe since it offers a wide range of possibilities to reflect on, deconstruct and juxtapose to the world of today and tomorrow. Within the landscapes of Majismo, I find a rich palette of colours and emotions with which to interact and explore to opening up to new interpretations. My first interaction with this universe was through the study of Spanish dances in Cuba, especially getting to know in depth the wonderful and graceful dance style of the Escuela Bolera. The next interactions were through the majestic paintings of Goya and of course through the voice of history which clearly shows a notoriously convulsing perspective that heavily contrasts the beauty of the very Spanish dances.

Under the influence of absurd nuances, extreme physicality and emotion, I create amalgams of eclectic scenarios. Within those scenarios, I like to also reconnect to my roots and therefore dialogue with a variety of dance languages spanning from European to Afro-Caribbean dance genres and expressions. In this space, I am fascinated by the possibility of exploring novel, unique and provocative narratives constructed by elements of classicism, romanticism, minimalism, among others, all fused and sustained in the gaze of both Surrealism and Majismo.

My story & motivation statement

As a latino, gay and immigrant creative, I have suffered individually from oppressing my opposite gender within myself due to the heteronormative environment I grew up in back in the Caribbean. Having to move to Europe have given me a three-dimensional perspective about gender, gender roles, cultural background and race, however, I have often felt in the verge to also oppressing my roots and demolishing my past simultaneously. Migration has been and still is a tough chapter in my personal journey which inevitably resonates in my artistic practice. This ongoing episode is fulfilled by a lot of learnings, yet physical, emotional, cultural and personal disruptions. However, migration has unquestionably served me as a magic door to reencounter myself and my roots. From it, works such as CASA and Pulling Scales, among others have been created to revisit, question and get messy again in scenarios alluding to my born place. This first body of works originated after leaving Cuba and it is now organised in a series so-called Physical Rootlessness.

Other works such as MAJOS have been created to give life to my dream project GOYES’KA. This initiative makes me very fulfilled . Beyond the chance to reconnecting to my roots it sets a space to actually meet again my inner child or late adolescent, both for me are symbols of persistence, fearless dreaming yet rebellious and insecure. It was during my late adolescence actually when I professionally entered into the dance field. There, I fell in love with Escuela Bolera and the art of Majismo. There was beauty and drive, but unfortunately, there were also many limits for my novice and revolted growing artist in the context of Spanish dances. I often dreamed to dance, dress and interact differently and more creatively with my peers, at least out of the frames of gender norms and the heteronormativity that traditional and classical dances entails. By the time Spanish dances were not longer a save space to be, learn and create, I moved away and almost forever to explore and grow in the fields of Contemporary dance and Modern Afro-Cuban. 10 years later comes GOYES’KA with a fresh, fearless and honest desire to reconnect, break boundaries, explore the unfamiliar and yet feel like home in may own body and powerful in my own movements.

As an artist, I find freedom through my artistic voice, which translates into dance performance, music, visual and performance art where in I challenge and deconstruct eighteenth-century European conceptions of gender, national character, and noble identity to further juxtaposing them to Afro-Caribbean contexts of repression, ancestral power and collectiveness. Due to previous and current, both personal and professional experiences, I firmly believe that the fusion, deconstruction and dialogue between opposing elements can eventually be distilled into innovative performance works that impact the views of our society. Therefore, I’m interested in doors and bridges for worlds to merge and empathise.

Photography by NORIDOYVILA ®

Henry Rodríguez

FOUNDER

Henry Rodríguez is an independent choreographer, educator and performing artist born in Cuba. 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 for dance festivals and commissions in Europe and abroad. Featured works are ‘MAJOS’, ‘Pulling Scales’,‘CASA’, ‘Dador’, ‘Fabián, Apuntes 1969’, ‘Lost in Parameterization’ and ‘Carnem Exilui’. In 2022 Henry created GOYES’KA, a dance and physical theatre emergent project-based company and platform for interdisciplinary works and where he is delving into his own music and choreographic practice. In the scholar year 2023-2024, he completed the BA Teacher of Classical Ballet program at the Nationale Balletacademie, Academie voor Theater en Dans (Amsterdamse Hogeschool van de Kunsten). During this program, besides deepening in the study of the Vaganova methodologie, he also researched on a new choreographic method: 'Map D-Construct Classical', which is based on the deconstruction of classical ballet technique and vocabulary at the intersection of ballet and neuroscience. 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.