Henryk 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 learning Polish folk dance a couple of years later. Henryk's 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, he has appeared in principal roles with Ballet Theatre of Queensland in productions of Coppelia, Les Sylphides, The Skaters and Aurora's Wedding. Most recently, he has performed featured roles in The Nutcracker, Peter Pan and Aladdin. Henryk has also appeared with THE DANCERS OF THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET in Giselle and with THE ROYAL BALLET in Swan Lake. 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 Polish folk dance first hand, and has subsequently returned twice to further develop his knowledge of Polish regional dances. His choreographic talent is in growing demand and he now travels not only in Australia but also overseas to run choreographic workshops on Polish folk dance. Henryk has been Artistic Director of two of the last nine national festivals of Polish Visual and Performing Arts known as POL-ART. Most recently, he was appointed the Artistic Director of the 10th POL-ART Festival, held in Hobart in 2006-2007.