You returned to the Budapest Opera House in December and performed in the role of the Nutcracker in Tchaikovsky?s ballet three times. Many children are inspired by this ballet to pick up dance. Was that how you got involved in ballet?
I used to be a very physically active child and my parents wanted to keep me occupied. I first did karate but then the doctor recommend against it. Instead, he directed me towards dance, stating that ?it would not be so stressful.? That?s how I ended up in the Mini Arabesque school in my hometown of Targu Mures. But I was not really doing dance there because it did not interest me. I was more excited about trying some of the virtuoso tricks that I had seen gymnasts do on TV. Once, a talent search came from Budapest looking for prospective students for the Hungarian Dance Academy. I was among the people picked. My parents encouraged me to go and I certainly wanted ?to make it to Pest?. I was accepted in the second class right away because I had studied some dance before even though I did not precisely know the names for the steps and various dance elements. The first few months were really quite hard. I remember, I had a fellow student who would keep saying: ?Kid, you?re going to get kicked out because you?re such a spastic!?. This made me work harder and harder because I would have been really embarrassed having to go home after my parents had made such a big sacrifice to help me study. As time went by, I improved. The first time I was allowed on stage was in The Nutcracker, as a little soldier, at age eleven. Since I was not from Budapest, they did not plan to give me a role, but I would still watch every performance. Then once, when a student did not arrive in time, they somehow ?spotted? me. They were already preparing the clothes for me when the boy who was originally going to play the part arrived. And I stood there, almost breaking into tears. So our master teacher Evelyn Janács took pity on me and during that one performance, instead of five little soldiers, six soldiers were marching on the Opera House stage.
After a long break, the little soldier recently became a Prince. You have a contract abroad, so how is it that you managed to find time to accept the invitation of the Hungarian National Ballet?
It is important to me that after two years, I can perform in Hungary again. The director of the National Ballet Tamás Solymosi invited me to dance the title role in the Nutcracker. I am glad that I have the opportunity to work with him during a period when he is already a director and still also an active dancer. When he came to rehearsals, he would teach me certain professional skills and technical tricks that really helped and I could make great use of them. Tamás pays so much attention to his female partners, such as I have never seen before. He has a unique sensibility. He does not allow the ballerina to find herself in a difficult position because he is thinking so far ahead and makes corrections as needed.
When did you turn into a conscious dance artist from being a student?
Only when I got my first injuries did it become clear that this is not simply a school task. They overburdened me and I wanted to fulfil the tasks as much as I could. I had the bad habit of punishing myself. I did not care if it hurt, I wanted to do it anyway. But then my body said no. I got an injury in ninth grade and after I recovered and started dancing again, an old injury came out. This caused problems even after school, when I was already working as a dancer. But I kept working despite the pain until during our first tour, a sinew snapped at my knee. I took rehabilitation very seriously. I thought it over and decided what?s really important in my life and whether I wanted to stay in the profession. It took quite a long time to come to an answer. I realised that it?s only worth continuing if I can be really good. Ever since, my body always gives me a sign when my motivation drops. If I do not work with full dedication, I am lost and become nothing. Dance can give endless satisfaction; I can find joy in every little detail. Artistic expression on the stage, preparation, character development, everyday rehearsals, it?s like a game of unending self-development. I have learnt to put more trust in others and realised that my production will not be worth less if an entire team is behind it. My current director, Aaron Watkin, and the Semperoper Ballet?s leading master Gamal Gauda stand behind me artistically and also as a person. My former master Szilárd Macher still helps me a lot with his friendship and professional opinion, just like Boglárka Hatala, the health expert at Semperoper Ballet and The Forsythe Company. I work together with her on a day to day basis and she has contributed a lot to my success.
How did you find the ballet company of Dresden where you have been a member for five years?
I was lucky. I used to go to a lot of auditions and there were places where they did not want me, where the director did not even bother looking at me. When I went to Dresden, I took a liking in the repertoire and after meeting some of the ballet masters, I thought that?s it, these are the type of people I?d like to work with. The company was reorganised by Aaron Watkins six years ago. The director stayed faithful to his ars poetica and is dedicated to filling the gap between classical ballet and modern approaches. It is important to him that any dancer should be able to change style in a period as short time as one week. The greatest challenge of the season was a Dresden premiere of the Nutcracker in November which was recorded by Arte TV and a DVD was made of it. Another two premieres await for me this season: a Forsythe evening and Les Ballets Russes ? Reloaded, which is a contemporary rethinking of pieces by the former company of Djagilev.
Have you worked with important choreographers in Dresden?
I have worked in choreographies by David Dawson, Jacopo Godani and Jiri Bubenicek. Johan Inger also visited us and I had the opportunity to work with two such geniuses as William Forsythe and Mats Ek. They were in Dresden at the same time last May. It is a crucial experience to witness how two such masters approach movement. For Forsythe, in addition to fulfilling aesthetic criteria, it is important that any movement should also make the dancer feel good. Ek is confident about what he wants to see and gives very clear instructions but never talks about the overall image that will take shape from the details. When attending their rehearsals, one feels like this is indeed the reason why it?s worth becoming a dancer. To see their dedication, their experience, all that?s behind them, their unchangeable belief in the art of dance. That?s what inspires the dancer, too.
Which were the roles that made you feel best?
It?s a commonplace, but every role is a gift and a challenge. It?s an interesting process to fully occupy a role. The leading role in the Seregi production of Rome and Juliet, and Solor in La Bayad?re (The Temple Dancer) in Dresden have been the roles that I most put myself into. When preparing for Romeo, I watched every available ballet recording, as well as Zeffirelli?s film version, and listened to the radio play featuring Ruttkai and Latinovits. I took fencing lessons and practiced the steps to match the ballet. By the time I got here, I knew everything and only had to put together the piece. La Bayad?re is technically such a difficult role that it requires an immense amount of energy to correctly perform it. But one needs motivation for that and a clear objective so that I can subordinate myself. It?s not enough to think that this is an opportunity to show how skilful I am. I had to find a moral message in La Bayad?re that keeps this ballet alive even today, the conflict which involves a man betraying his love and the women still forgiving him. To explain what happens in the man, how he can go to the end of the world to make up for the betrayal and get pardoned for his sin. I believe that catharsis is still important to viewers.
Interviewer: Márton Karczag / Photo: Bence Kovács
