On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of her death, a “mini-conference” will be held to honour the memory of ballet artist Mária Bretus, who was a founding member of the Pécs Ballet Company and a ballet master at the Hungarian Dance University and the Budapest Dance School.
The commemorative meeting of Mária Bretus will take place on 24 January 2025, on the day of her birth in 1943, from 13:30 in the Senate Hall of the Hungarian Dance University.
The Liszt Ferenc Prize-winning, deserving and distinguished artist died on 21 October 2014, aged 71.
Mária Bretus started her career in 1960 at the Pécs Ballet, with the legendary company of Imre Eck. As a leading soloist, she danced the most beautiful and important female roles of the Pécs Ballet repertoire, winning the love of the audience and the recognition of the profession.
Photo by HDU
“Her wonderful talent, excellent role shaping, artistic sense and technical knowledge made her a dominant personality of the company, her most outstanding performances were in The Ballad of Horror, The Miraculous Mandarin, The Peacock in the Rise, Carmina Burana, Carmen, Salome, and among others, A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, said a 2014 statement issued by the Pécs Ballet.
Mária Bretus was a leading artist of the Pécs Ballet for twenty-five years, and after her retirement she worked with the same talent and dedication as a teacher at the Hungarian Dance University.
After completing her artistic career, she graduated from the college’s classical ballet pedagogy department between 1988 and 1992, and in 1990 she began her teaching career as an assistant professor, which she rapidly advanced, becoming a professor in 2000 and professor emerita after her 70th birthday. For several terms, Mária Bretus was the head of the classical ballet department at the institution and one of the developers of the national curriculum. Together with Mária Zórándi, the former rector of the college, she wrote one of the best-known national notes on the methodology of basic exercises based on the Vaganova system, entitled The Fundamentals of Ballet Technique. Her work as a dance pedagogue was mainly focused on classical ballet training in folk dance.
Speakers at the commemorative meeting:
- SZILÁRD MACHER: Mary Bretus, the Master and the Man
- JÚLIA ECK: Mária Bretus, dancer of the Pécs Ballet, colleague of Imre Eck.
- Bretuska: star – man – master, with commentary by IVÁN ANGELUS on personal memories and documents found in the Budapest Dance School Archive.
- A roundtable discussion about Mária Bretus with her friends and colleagues, including excerpts from recordings of performances from the period.
Katalin Lőrinc, DLA, Kossuth Prize winner, Gyula Harangozó Prize winner dance artist and university professor will act as the moderator.
