Rodolfo Castellanos

Former dancer at the National Ballet of Cuba, during his academic career he graduated a classical Ballet dancer and ballet master at the National Arts Schools of Havana, Cuba. Some of his ballet masters were Fernando Alonso, Joaquín Banegas, Josefina Méndez and Ramona de Sáa.

He graduated at the Higher Institute of Art in 1993 and he has a degree in Dance Art with a specialization in ballet in the city of Havana, Cuba.

He also received the status of ballet master of the Higher Institute of Art in Havana (Cuba) and graduated from the Higher Conservatory of Dance of Institut de Teatre (Barcelona) of the Barcelona Provincial Council, specializing in Dance Pedagogy (2015).

His artistic career is brilliant: he made his debut as a professional in 1973 with the National Ballet of Cuba. From 1975 to 1977 he participated in the Ballet of Camagüey. In 1977 he moved back to the National Ballet of Cuba, with Alicia Alonso as a director, where he had an ascending professional career: First Artist 1977, Soloist 1982, First Soloist 1985 and Principal Dancer 1986.

His repertoire includes all the leading roles in the great romantic-classical tradition. He was invited to many dance companies as a principal dancer and he premiered throughout America the version of the Spartacus ballet by the Hungarian choreographer Lazlo Zeregi at the Ballet of Santiago de Chile.

He has shared a staged with stars like Julio Bocca, Marcia Haydee, Vladimir Vasiliev, Alicia Alonso and Paolo Bartolucci among others.

He worked with many contemporary choreographers like Michel Descombey, Jhon Wisman, José Antonio or Antonio Gades, and he perfomed all the work from Cuban choreographers like Alberto Mendes, Gustavo Herrera or Ivan Tenorio.

As a ballet master, we must underline that since 1982 he has combined being a dancer with his job as a ballet master at the Cuban National Ballet School of Havana, where he got excellent results with students, according to Carlos Acosta and Víctor Gili.

In 1992 he collaborated with Ben Stevenson in the production of The Snow Maiden in Santiago de Chile.

In 1994 and 1995 he worked as a ballet master and rehearsal director at the Euskadi Ballet, directed by Rafael Martí. He participated in the performance of Giselle, which is available at the Barakaldo Theatre in San Sebastián and the Fortuny Theatre in Reus.

In 1995 he was guest ballet master at the Ballet Theatre of Bordeaux, in France.

He was also invited to work as a ballet master and rehearsal director at the Ballet of Zaragoza, directed by Arantxa Argüelles.

Since 1999 he has worked as a ballet master in the young company IT Dansa, directed by Catherine Allard.

The academic years of 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 he worked as a ballet master at Scuola di Danza Fondazione Teatro dell’Opera, directed by Paula Jorio. In September 2002 he started working as a ballet master at the professional dance conservatory teaching classical technique, Pas de Deux and classical repertoire at Institut del Teatre of Barcelona.

The academic years 2004-2005 i 2005-2006 he was a guest ballet master at the prestigious dance school Rudra Béjart of Lausanne, Switzerland.

He was a guest ballet master at the Elmhurst Ballet School of Birmingham and the English National Ballet School, and he worked as ballet master at the Royal Ballet School during the academic years 2015-2016 and 2016-2017.

In October 2019 he participated in the symposium at the Cuban Ballet School of New York, organized by the prestigious dancer Cynthia Harvey for the ABT, and in December he worked in Havana with the company directed by the prestigious dancer Carlos Acosta.

He is currently starting a new project as the High Performance Dance Programme artistic director, requested by Factoria Cultural de Terrassa.