Dancer, ballet master, ballet and theatre director Imre Dózsa was born in Budapest in 1941. He graduated from the State Ballet Institute in 1959 as a student of György Lőrinc and in the same year became a member of the Opera House’s company, promoted to soloist in 1964, and from 1983 serving as a ballet master. During György Lőrinc’s time as ballet director (1961–1977), he became the leading soloist of the company, carrying the entire danseur noble repertoire as well as both the national and international contemporary ballets on his shoulders.
His career was not limited to Hungary, between 1970 and 1975 he was a soloist of the Swedish Royal Ballet, as well as a guest soloist of the Deutsche Oper in Berlin and the London Festival Ballet (today’s English National Ballet). In 1979, while still an active dancer, he became the director of the State Ballet Institute, then, following the institutions’s transformation into the Hungarian Dance Academy, its general director. Parallel to his activities in Budapest, he was also the ballet director of the Teatro Nacional Chileno in Santiago de Chile between 1989 and 1991. As a ballet master he nurtured generations of dancers and as company répétiteur continued to inspire the Opera Houe’s leading soloists well into his 80s.
Awards and recognitions:
Artist of Excellene (1983)
Kossuth-prize (1978)
Artist of Merit (1975)
Liszt Ferenc Award (1964)
