The graduating students of the modern dance year at the Hungarian Dance University (HDU) are the third generation in the history of the university’s modern year who have the opportunity to spend a full semester in their final year as trainees.
Within the framework of the Pannonia Scholarship Programme, Málna Bondor, Emőke Lászlóffy, Csenge Szabó and Hanna Dorsich spent their internship at the world-renowned MM Contemporary Dance Company in Reggio Emilia near Bologna. Hanna Dorsich reported on the unique opportunity for the university students to work with world-renowned contemporary masters.
“You have been in an exciting professional environment in a beautiful place in recent months. How were your days at the internship?”
“We had classes usually from Monday to Friday, from 9am to 4pm. First, three ballet masters would take turns giving us ballet classes, followed by modern classes where we would work with different choreographers, dancers and company directors. Then came the rehearsals, where we prepared for the December performance, in which we performed and it was a great success. Here we learnt excerpts from MM Contemporary Dance Company, Vivaldi’s Umane Passioni and incompany pieces by Emanuele Soavi. We spent many weekends driving through the beautiful towns nearby.”
“How was the time spent at the company different from the one at the university?”
“It is completely different to work in a new country, with new people and new impulses. We’ve seen what it’s like to work and live in such an environment. Every day we were learning new things, experiencing new things. We needed to be quicker and more mature, because there was less attention to fix the little things, we had to do them ourselves. It was also new at the beginning of the practice that the classes were in Italian or English and this required more attention, but the masters and the dancers were all helpful.”
“Do you think the skills you have acquired so far are sufficient to work in a company?”
“Yes, we have the basics, but I also see that we still have a lot of work to do. The time we have spent here has helped us to find out more about our shortcomings and also to find out exactly what we want to do and in what direction we want to go artistically.”
“Who trained you?”
“We received a lot of help from Enrico Morelli, one of the directors of MM Contemporary Dance Company, who made it possible for us to be here and learn as temporary members of the Agora Coaching Project team. Our ballet masters are Mauro Bigonzetti, director of Teatro alla Scala, Dorian Grori and Lisa Martini. Most of the time, the modern classes, training and learning were given by local choreographers, dancers or company leaders from Italy, but they also invited guest choreographers on several occasions, Francesco Gammino, Martin Angiuli, Sabino Barbiero, Paolo Mangiola who worked with us. For one part of the performance we worked with Michele Merola, another director of MM Contemporary Dance Company and one of the dancers, Nicola Stasi. The second half was taught to us by Emanuele Soavi, director of Emanuele Soavi incompany and one of its dancers, Lorenzo Molinaro.”
“Was this a big opportunity?”
“It is a big thing to experience and live so many new things. We learn so much every day. For those who want to work abroad, this is a big step towards starting a professional career. The last few months helped us a lot to work independently, to be able to work independently and in a foreign language, and to prepare ourselves for the real dance profession. We improved almost every day and the mentality and attitude of the people here towards dance gave us a lot. We can all say that we are better prepared and more experienced to start our own journey after finishing the university.”
