Carola Goya; Choreographer, Expert on Spanish Dance

Carola Goya, 88, American expert on the Spanish dance who was believed to be the first solo castanets player. The daughter of New York actors manager Samuel Weller, she legally adopted the Spanish surname. Miss Goya was trained in ballet and studied Spanish dance in New York and Madrid. As dancer, choreographer and castanets virtuoso, she fused Spanish rhythms with classical music. She danced as a teen-ager with the New York Metropolitan Opera Ballet and later toured with the Jose Greco Dance Company. She appeared as a castanets soloist with the Detroit Symphony, the Kansas City Philharmonic, the Symphony of the Air and other groups. In 1954, Miss Goya performed and taught with Matteo Vittucci; they were married in 1974. She had directed the New York-based Foundation for Ethnic Dance since 1967. On Sunday in New York.