Henryk Michael Kurylewski was born in Brisbane to Polish parents who emigrated to Australia following World War II. His passion for dance emerged at the age of 10 after seeing the Polish State Song & Dance Ensemble MAZOWSZE perform in Brisbane, and he began studying Polish folk dance a couple of years later.

Graduate studies broadened his experience in the dramatic arts, and as a secondary teacher, he directed and choreographed numerous student productions including Godspell, Once Upon a Mattress, Grease, Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Look Homeward, Angel, The Diary of Anne Frank, Our Town and Dark of the Moon. Also trained in classical ballet (Sandra Pincham School of Dance, Gladstone, and the Ashgrove Dance Studio, Brisbane), he has appeared in principal roles with Ballet Theatre of Queensland in productions of Coppelia, Les Sylphides, The Skaters and Aurora's Wedding, and has given featured role performances in The Nutcracker, Peter Pan, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. He has also appeared with THE DANCERS COMPANY of THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET in Giselle, with THE ROYAL BALLET in Swan Lake and with the PARIS OPERA BALLET in La Bayadere.

In 1982, Henryk founded OBERTAS and continues to be its Artistic Director and Choreographer. In 1988, he travelled for the first time to Poland in order to study and perform Polish folk dance first hand, and has subsequently returned a number of times to further develop his knowledge of Polish regional dances. His choreographic talent is in growing demand and he now travels nationally and internationally to run national/character workshops for dance companies and ballet studios. Henryk has been the Artistic Director of three of the last nine national festivals of Polish Visual and Performing Arts known as POL-ART: Brisbane 1988, Brisbane 2000 and Hobart 2006, receiving critical acclaim for his spectacular staging, and extensive knowledge of and invaluable contributions to Polish folk dance in Australia.