ELOY J. ROJAS

Choreographer · Movement Researcher · Dance Artist · Educator

Movement begins with connection.

Born in Venezuela and based in Berlin, Eloy J. Rojas is a choreographer, movement researcher, dance artist and educator working at the intersection of Latin American dance, culture, movement research and individual expression.

Rooted particularly in Salsa and Mambo, his practice explores not only how we move, but where movement comes from, how we connect through it and how we ultimately make it our own.

Berlin-based · Working internationally

THE STORY

Eloy was born and raised in Venezuela, where music, rhythm and dance were part of his cultural environment long before they became his profession.

From 2009 to 2012, he completed his professional training in Caracas as a dancer, choreographer and dance teacher, studying Ballroom, Latin, Afro-Latin and Caribbean rhythms. He subsequently continued developing professionally through dance schools and projects in Venezuela.

In 2014, he moved to Mexico City, beginning the first international chapter of his career.

There, he continued working as a dancer, choreographer and educator and founded his first dance school, Be Dancer, expanding his experience into direction, education, project development and community building.

In 2016, Eloy moved to Berlin, Germany, which has remained his professional and creative base ever since.

Working in a new cultural environment transformed the questions behind his practice. He became increasingly interested in how culture, history, gender, musical understanding and individual experience influence the way movement is learned and expressed.

What began as technical curiosity gradually became movement research.

RESEARCH & MOVEMENT DEVELOPMENT

Understanding movement beyond the step.

Eloy’s independent research began by examining specific technical and cultural questions within Latin American dance.

TURNS & SPINS TECHNIQUE OF LATIN AMERICAN RHYTHMS

An investigation into rotational movement and the relationship between structural principles found in European dance traditions and movement intentions connected to Afro-diasporic practices.

BASIC BODY POSTURE & MOVEMENT OF LATIN AMERICAN RHYTHMS

An investigation into how culture, religion, and social and political processes have influenced posture and physical languages within Latin American dance.

Both studies combined bibliographic exploration, professional interviews and practical movement laboratories, establishing the foundations for Eloy’s broader research practice.

FROM THE ROOTS

Understanding where movement comes from.

From the Roots: It Is About Latin Rhythms developed from Eloy’s research into the cultural, historical and physical foundations of Latin American dance.

The project explores how African, European, Indigenous, Caribbean and Latin American influences, together with religion, migration and social transformation, have shaped the movement languages we practice today.

It was developed as a nine-month research and educational project within the framework of NEUSTART KULTUR, receiving €13,500 in German federal cultural funding.

The project resulted in a pioneering comprehensive professional training structure for Latin American rhythms in Europe, bringing practical training, theory, cultural research and movement analysis together within the same educational framework.

THE FLOW ENGINE

Understand · Connect · Express

After investigating where movement comes from, Eloy’s work evolved toward another question:

How does movement become personal expression?

This became The Flow Engine — a methodology exploring how dancers understand information, connect it through the body and ultimately transform it into their own movement.

The process moves through five interconnected stages:

MECHANICS

Learn the movement.

UNDERSTANDING

Know why it works.

INTENTION

Explore how you want to express it.

TRANSFORMATION

Experience the change in movement quality.

INTEGRATION

Make it part of your own movement.

The objective is not to create dancers who move in the same way, but to give them the tools to develop movement that is understood, connected and individual.

It is all about how you connect, how you understand, and how you express your movement.

When those elements begin working together, dancing does not simply look different.

It feels different.

CHOREOGRAPHIC WORK

Creation through personal experience.

Eloy’s choreographic practice brings together movement, music, personal experience and artistic exploration, creating work for companies, performers and dance communities internationally.

CHOREOGRAPHIC FORMATION PROJECTS

His choreographic formation projects combine training and creation.

Rather than simply teaching a finished choreography, each project takes dancers through a process involving technique, musicality, cultural context, interpretation, artistic development and performance, ultimately resulting in a complete choreographic work.

Each project also begins from a personal place — using choreography to explore relationships, memories, identity and different chapters of Eloy’s own life.

BABALÚ AYÉ

Originally created as a solo in Berlin, Babalú Ayé later became the first work Eloy transformed into a choreographic formation project, bringing the process to Mexico.

Moving through Cha-Cha-Cha, Afro-rooted movement and Salsa, the work is inspired by Babalú Ayé / San Lázaro and carries a deeply personal connection to Eloy’s relationship with his father.

Through conflict, memory, forgiveness and reconciliation, the choreography became a physical expression of a relationship that had changed over time.

The original solo also became one of Eloy’s most recognized competitive choreographic works.

CARI CARIDAD

Inspired by Oshún, Cari Caridad explores love, femininity, family and the different ways care can exist across generations.

At its emotional center are Eloy’s grandmother, his sister and himself — three relationships and perspectives brought together through memory, movement and personal identity.

PRESENTE

Inspired by Oggún, Presente explores strength, presence and transformation.

The work looks at the relationship between different versions of ourselves and the person we continue becoming, transforming personal experience into a physical exploration of presence.

HOMENAJE AL TRES

A project about memory, migration and belonging, connecting Venezuela, Spain and the Netherlands — places representing different chapters of Eloy’s life.

At its emotional center is little Eloy, the child who learned to dream in Venezuela and whose memories continued travelling with him across countries and different versions of himself.

The work becomes a conversation between origin and transformation, childhood and adulthood, memory and the person he has become today.

DÓNDE ESTABAS TÚ

A project moving through Cha-Cha-Cha, Pachanga and Boogaloo, connecting musical history and vintage references with contemporary movement.

The work also explores another territory of personal expression: sexy, sassy, playful and elegant.

It creates space for confidence, sophistication, attitude and sensuality to become part of movement identity rather than something simply added on top of the dancing.

SELECTED CHOREOGRAPHIC REPERTOIRE

Alongside his formation projects, Eloy has developed an extensive repertoire of original choreographic work through companies, competitions, performances and independent artistic creation.

Avísale a Mi Contrario

The Monster

Macorina

Elvira

Ocana Sordi

Bacalao con Pan

Babalú Ayé

Mumbo Jumbo

Cari Caridad

Alégrate Eloy

Presente

Homenaje al Tres

Dónde Estabas Tú

ALÉGRATE ELOY

Among these works, Alégrate Eloy developed a life far beyond its original choreography.

It became the foundation of the international Alégrate Eloy Challenge, through which dancers and dance communities around the world learned, interpreted and shared the choreography.

The challenge has collectively reached more than 5 million people across digital platforms, allowing the work to continue evolving through different dancers and communities internationally.

INTERNATIONAL GROUPS

Building communities beyond one city.

Eloy’s work extends beyond workshops and festival appearances into longer-term groups and training communitieswhere dancers can engage more deeply with his choreographic and educational practice.

These currently include:

Berlin · Barcelona · Amsterdam · Stuttgart · Switzerland

Through these communities, dancers work with Eloy’s approach over longer periods of time, connecting choreography, training, movement understanding and artistic development.

Together, they represent an international community connected through a shared approach to movement rather than a single physical location.

INTERNATIONAL PRACTICE

Berlin-based. Working internationally.

From his base in Berlin, Eloy’s professional career has taken him to more than 37 countries, teaching, performing, creating and collaborating with dance communities across Europe, Asia, Latin America and internationally.

Selected engagements include:

Berlin Salsa Congress · Amsterdam International Salsa Festival · Paris International Salsa Congress · World Salsa Meeting · On2 Salsa Congress · Istanbul World Dance Congress · Jeju Latin Culture Festival · Salsa Bachata Temptation Asia — Bangkok · Andaya Latin Festival — Taipei · Cyprus Salsa Congress · World Stars Salsa Festival

His professional work in Asia includes Taiwan, South Korea and Tokyo, Japan.

Alongside his international schedule, Eloy maintains a regular professional collaboration in Amsterdam, while Berlin remains the center of his professional and creative practice.

TEACHER EDUCATION & PEDAGOGY

Teaching the teachers.

A significant part of Eloy’s educational practice has focused not only on dancers, but on the people responsible for teaching them.

Between 2023 and 2025, he worked directly in the training and professional development of dance teachers from different parts of the world through dedicated teacher classes and masterclass-based education.

The work focused on:

Pedagogy · Teaching Methodology · Class Structure · Communication · Curriculum Development · Movement Analysis · Student Development

His experience has also extended into the pedagogical and administrative structures of dance schools, contributing to the development and organization of educational programs and teaching systems.

This became an important evolution of his work as an educator: moving beyond teaching individual classes toward developing the teachers, methodologies and structures through which dance education happens.

ONLINE EDUCATION

More than dance classes.

The EJR Studio Online Platform was created around the idea that much of the knowledge surrounding dance is traditionally separated from the dancing itself.

History exists in books.

Research exists in documents.

Culture exists in films and conversations.

Technique exists in class.

The platform brings those worlds together.

Rather than functioning simply as a collection of recorded classes, it combines practical dance training, technique, musicality, theory, history and cultural research within one digital environment.

Its educational library also includes research documents, seminars, educational resources, books, films, documentaries, series and audiovisual references.

Students can learn a movement, investigate its context and origins, explore related cultural material and return to physical practice with a different level of understanding.

It functions as a growing digital library and training environment for Latin dance, where practice, theory, research and culture coexist.

Do not only learn what to dance. Understand what you are dancing.

MENTORSHIP

Eloy’s mentorship brings together his experience in movement, artistic development, teacher education and professional strategy.

Designed for dancers, teachers and dance professionals, the process adapts to the individual rather than following one predetermined program.

ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT

Movement identity
Technique
Connection
Musicality
Creative development
Artistic direction

EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Teaching methodology
Pedagogy
Teacher training
Curriculum development

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Choreographic and educational project development
Dance school structure and development
Professional strategy
Marketing and communication within the dance industry

Sometimes the question begins with movement.

Sometimes with teaching.

Sometimes with an artistic or professional idea that needs structure.

The objective is to develop a direction that is clear, informed and connected to the individual behind the work.

EJR STUDIO

Research · Education · Creation · Community

Founded by Eloy in Berlin, EJR Studio is the structure through which his independent artistic and educational practice comes together.

It connects:

Movement Research · Methodology Development · Dance Education · Choreographic Formation · Online Learning · Mentorship · International Collaboration · Community

At its center is the belief that dance can simultaneously be physical, cultural, intellectual, personal and artistic.

Its philosophy can be summarized in one principle:

DANCE WITH INTENTION.

Understand what you are doing.

Connect with it.

And decide how you want to express it.

SELECTED COLLABORATIONS & PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Throughout his career, Eloy has also worked with artists, companies and organizations across different areas of the international dance industry.

CONSTANZA MACRAS | DORKYPARK

Choreographic work in connection with Der Palast, presented at Volksbühne Berlin.

BERSY CORTEZ

Professional artistic collaboration within the international Afro-Latin and Mambo scene.

MISAKI

Ongoing international artistic collaboration through teaching, performance and creative development, with work extending across Europe and Asia.

BACHATA INFLUENCE

For almost three years, Eloy worked as Social Media Manager and part of the marketing strategy of Bachata Influence, contributing to content development, communication and digital positioning within the international dance industry.

This experience expanded his professional practice into communication, audience development and creative strategy.

SELECTED RECOGNITION

COMPETITION & CHOREOGRAPHIC RECOGNITION

Eloy’s work has received multiple awards through national and international dance competitions.

3× First Place Awards

3× Second Place Awards

Selected achievements include:

FIRST PLACE — BERLIN SALSA CONGRESS

Elvira

FIRST PLACE — AMSTERDAM

Babalú Ayé · Solo

SECOND PLACE — WARSAW

Babalú Ayé · Solo

FIRST PLACE AS CHOREOGRAPHER — ODESSA, UKRAINE

Ocana Sordi

INTERNATIONAL DANCE COUNCIL — CID

Eloy is a member of the International Dance Council — CID, an international organization dedicated to dance worldwide and historically connected with UNESCO.