Emese Nagy, MA•ZE

Emese Nagy is a Hungarian choreographer, dancer and dance teacher.

She lives in Munich, Germany. She graduated from the contemporary dance department of the Hungarian Dance Academy. As a dancer she has collaborated with companies and choreographers from Europe and Israel, where she trained with Batsheva Dance Company.

She received the title of Emerging Choreographer at Springboard Danse Montreal 2018, a position she also held at La Biennale di Venezia 2020 and at Bolzano Danza 2022 in collaboration with Silvia Giordano (IT).

In 2022, she received the Bayern Innovativ scholarship in Munich, Germany.

In 2019, she received the Tempus Foundation Eötvös Pre-Doctoral Scholarship, which allowed her to explore improvisation and collaborate with several choreographers in Tel Aviv, Israel.

In 2017, Emese co-founded the company "MA-ZE" and now works as a freelance dance artist with choreographers such as Hiroaki Umeda, Yaniv Cohen, Victor Rottier, Yaniv Avraham, Guy Shomroni, Jasmine Ellis, Jack Gallagher, Máté Mészáros and László Fülöp, to name a few.

Emese is a member of the production house Pro Progressione, and her work was supported in 2021/2022 by the following institutions: Bayern Innovativ, Shawbrook Residential - Ireland, Machol Shalem Dance House - Israel, National Culture Fund, Sín Arts Center - Hungary.

Emese has been working as a creative since 2014. Since then, she has performed several dance pieces at various venues and festivals in Hungary and abroad. These include performances at Springboard Danse Montreal, La Biennale di Venezia, Bolzano Danza,Shawbrook Residential, Hier=Jetzt Festival Munich, Muffatwerk, Agitart Festival Figueres, 10 times 6 Festival Berlin, DanceLab Festival in Skopje, the Antré series of the Workshop Foundation Budapest, Sziget Festival Budapest, OFF program of the Pécs National Theater Festival, Thelater Szeged, NEXTFESZT, Mu Theater Budapest and Trafó House of Contemporary Arts.

"I think that art invites viewers to learn about perspectives and ways of life other than their own - and thus it helps to foster empathy, which is so important for democracy. I want to create stories that tell us something about who we are as people.

I've always believed that art should be understood as more than just an act of creating, producing, or exhibiting material objects. It should also represent the way individuals approach, organize and structure their lives, and the willingness to take care of themselves and others.

I celebrate movements to try to express myself thoroughly and completely. I am not locked into a particular technique, but allow myself to move freely from convention. I try to find a balance between control and natural instinct."