Exhibition of Budapest Dance School Archive
Goli Dance Space, from 1-12-2023.
The exhibition presents a cross-section of the 18 years of the Rudolf Laban Award and the 18 years of the college’s contemporary dance training. From this intersection, we highlight the 8 performances nominated for the Laban Award, which were presented by the college as an institution under the direction of Iván Angelus. Among the performances presented are student works (Gyönyerő, Ördöglakat – fiúk, Útszeretők, Üvegbúra), a piece created by an invited choreographer (Mennék…), performances assembled from etudes created for the college’s in-house shows (VŰ, Yucca), and a show created by graduating students (Felületi kötődés). Thus, these performances are representative of the many directions of creative work at the college.
The Rudolf Laban Award was founded in 2005 by the Trafó House of Contemporary Arts and MU Theatre to recognise and promote the most outstanding works and artists of Hungarian contemporary dance. György Szabó on behalf of Trafó and Tibor Leszták on behalf of MU Theatre (both founders and directors of the institution), who died in 2008, were behind the creation of the prize. The founders invited independent aesthetes, critics and journalists who regularly analyze, interpret and promote the contemporary dance scene to curate the Award. Since its foundation, the Curatorial Board has included Lívia Fuchs, András Rényi, László Százados and Szilvia Szilágyi/Artner Sisso. The number of nominees varies from year to year, but each year two of them are awarded the prize named after the most important innovator in 20th century European modern dance.
The Budapest Contemporary Dance Academy was officially established in 2004, with the first courses starting in autumn 2005. Its founder and rector until 2023 is Iván Angelus, who provided an institutional framework for contemporary dance training by opening the Creative Movement Studio in 1983. In the 1990s, he started a professional dance school, which became a vocational school in 1998, and later on, the college courses were based on this professional experience. From 2023 onwards, the institution offered courses in circus arts and is known as the Budapest Circus Arts and Contemporary Dance College. From the very beginning, the focus of the College’s contemporary dance training has been on creative-performing practice. Several works by students and graduates of the College and its predecessor institutions have been nominated for the best contemporary dance performance of the season by the Curatorial Board of the Rudolf Laban Award. Among them, Adrienn Hód (13 nominations, 5 awards), Csaba Molnár (9 nominations, 4 awards), László Fülöp (5 nominations, 1 award) and Tamara Zsófia Vadas (4 nominations, 2 awards) stand out.
We thank the members of the Laban Rudolf Award Curatorial Board for following our professional work!
They have participated in the work of the Curatorial Board: Dorottya Albert, Orsolya Bálint, Katalin Erdődi, Lívia Fuchs, Tamás Halász, Zsuzsa Komjáthy, Zsolt Koren, Csaba Králl, Csaba Kutszegi, Katalin Lőrinc, Ádám Mestyán, István Nánay, Márta Péter, András Rényi, László Százados, Szilvia Szilágyi/Artner sisso, Annamária Szoboszlai, Veronika Ágnes Tóth, Ákos Török.
We also thank Trafó and MU Theatre for their long-term partnership in giving publicity to the performances produced in the College’s workshop.
Exhibition of the Budapest Dance School Archive
Goli Dance Space, from 1 December 2023.
Concept and selection by Petra Péter
Graphic design by Blanka Csasznyi
Installation by Dóri Freimann and Petra Péter
