Milan Ujvari

PURGATORY – The 7  Deadly Sins at Brønshøj Water Tower as part of Kulturnatten 2024This immersive performance, combining dance, opera, and theatre, features a cast of 30 artists and is realised in collaboration with CISPA – Copenhagen International School of Performing Arts and various institutions, including Italian Cultural Institute of Copenhagen, Brønshøj Vandtårn, Brønshøj-Husum Lokaludvalg, Københavns Kommune, Konsul George Jorck og Hustru Emma Jorck’s Fond, Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies (University of Copenhagen) and Società Dante Alighieri Copenhagen.

Concept and director
Giuseppe L. Bonifati (Italy)

Choreography
Milán Újvári (Hungary)

Original music
Claudio Passilongo (Italy)

Set design and costumes
Linda Sugataghy (Hungary)

Sound and lights
Valet Lys/Lyd (Denmark)

Live music
Elena Medina: theorbo (Spain)
Kathrine Brandt: viola da gamba (Denmark)

Assistant and Italian dialogue coach
Karla Sorcic (Croatia)

Acting coaches
Lars Henning, Delya Messadi, Rikke Liljenberg (DK)

With
Dante, a homeless man: Alberto Naldo (Spain)
Virgil, the prison tower chief guard: Milán Újvári (Hungary)
Beatrice, the prison director: Sandra Lind Þorsteinsdóttir (Iceland)

And
Benóný Arnórsson  (Iceland), Rachel Bentzen (Denmark/US), Kiana Falizi (Iran/Denmark), Onni Reilin (Finland), Huld Grímsdóttir (Iceland) Johan Lehtonen (Finland), Henna Salonen (Finland), Sigríður Halla Eiríksdóttir i (Iceland), Margrét Braga  (Iceland), Madalena Cobra (Portugal), Karen Fossdal  (Iceland) Sara Isabel Gunnlaugsdottir  (Iceland/Colombia), Martti Nikamaaa (Finland) Michela Rasmini (Italy)
Yr Aimée Gautadóttir Presburg  (Iceland/France), Clara Bruun (Denmark), Helka Karhu (Finland), Zuza Bak (Poland), Hafey Þormarsdóttir  (Iceland)

Supported by
Italian Cultural Institute of Copenhagen, Brønshøj-Husum Lokaludvalg, Brønshøj Vandtårn,
Konsul George Jorck og Hustru Emma Jorck’s Fond,
Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies (University of Copenhagen),
Københavns Kommune, Società Dante Alighieri Copenhagen

The word spin in quantum mechanics refers to the motion of particles in a given orbit. How does this idea apply to a man and a woman duet. A short piece created for the students of the Hungarian Dance Academy.

Performed by: Emoke Laszloffy and Ruszlan Babacsi

Music: Nils Frahm

Choreographer: Milan Ujvari

Year of Production: 2023

Photo: Janos Lakatos / Moving Target Photo

Scenes from the life of Meyerhold.

Freely adapted from The Last Nightmare of Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold, written in 1940 before he was executed in prison on the orders of Generalissimo Joseph Vissarjonovich Stalin.

"How does fear distort you? And how does the will to conform? How is it the survival instinct? How without harming ourselves, our loved ones, by telling the truth, our opportunities, our jobs, our careers? Is it possible to reconcile the inner freedom that essential for creation, with a world whose leaders demand only absolute obedience, absolute loyalty and unthinking, unthinking execution of orders."

(Remusz Szikszai)

"You are either with us or you are not." What happens then? Is Richard III banned? And if banned, who actually bans it?

Performed by the Szkéné Theatre and Vádli Occasional Theatre Company

Director: Remusz Szikszai

Choreographer: Milan Ujvari

Year of Production: 2020

Photos: Bea Szokodi

QUESTION: What do we see? A. We see whatever there is. B. We see whatever we want to see. C. We see whatever the things that be are willing to show of themselves. D. All of the above.

Milan Ujvari, in his evening- long solo performance talks about issues relevant to the society of our day - concepts such as alienation, manipulation and masking, with common gestures as their fundament (with a grotesque twist) utilizing slapstick's classically recognizable style.

The performance playfully brings into question our place in society, in which we frequently feel completely lost, even though it is an entity built up of us entirely. We are it. So how are we capable of operating something the operation of which we do not comprehend? Often not even comprehending we are operating anything at all. To put it simply: is it possible for a body to operate if the left hand has no clue what the right hand is up to?

Can we gain perspective over the whole of which we are a part of? And while we are on the topic: is it a fact that we are parts of a whole? (Or are we all wholes made up of parts?) Is anything possible to assemble wholly using merely parts?

Milan Ujvari's work does not draw strict lines between representing characters through movement, dance, pantomime and classical theatrical acting. What he does strictly do is pulling a bag over his head, as displayed clearly on the image. The question that remains is merely: what do we see?

Performed by: Milan Ujvari

Dramaturg: Kornel Laboda

Music: Peter Fancsikai

Lights: Zoltan Vida

Costume: Julcsi Kiss

Video: Kristof Varnagy

Photo: Katalin Bobal - bobal photography

Choreographed by: Milan Ujvari

Year of Production: 2020

Supported by: NKA Imre Zoltán Program, i-Portunus Mobility Program by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, O Espaco do Tempo – Montemor o Novo, Portugal, Movein Studio Budapest, Sín Cultural Center Budapest, Workshop Foundation Budapest

An adaptation of the legendary movie of Anders Thomas Jensen.

Radnóti Miklós Theater, Budapest.  http://radnotiszinhaz.hu/

Directed by: Remusz Szikszai

Choreographed and performed by: Milan Ujvari

Year of Production: 2017.

A production of the Eva Duda Dance Company, Budapest. http://evaduda.net/

Performed by: Csaba Varga, Bea Egyed, Andor Rusu, Milan Ujvari, Jessica Simet, Lili Raubinek.

Music: Abris Gryllus, Peter Kunnert, Nils Frahm

Lights: David Kovacsovics

Costume: Julcsi Kiss
Rigging: Zoltai György
Props: Andras Till

Assistant director: Attila Soos

Choreographer assistant: Marton Csuzi
Production assistant: Barbara Czveiber
Choreographer-Director: Eva Duda

Year of Production: 2016.

"It is not the dada that is nonsense, it is the essence of our time that is nonsense." (Dada graffiti) A lecture performance parody about art, education and comedy.

Presented and supported by the Eva Duda Dance Company.

Created and performed by: Milan Ujvari

Dramaturg: Attila Soos

Music: Adrian Newgent, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Muddy Waters

Special thanks to: Bea Egyed

Year of Production: 2016

Dumaszínház and Füge Productions present

A performance art sketch show

We’ve realized that our bodies are destined to generate visual pleasure. It’s enough just to bend our elbows or kneel down tightening the tendon of our thighs, and you, dear audience member, will feel as if you’ve ascended to heaven. But we’re capable of even more: we’re going to dance for you! Even if we’re not very good at it. And even when you’d really rather we didn’t.

Laughing is guaranteed!

‘My colleague, Milán Újvári is 5’3”. Meanwhile I’m 6’3”. During the show, we try to overcome the size difference of one foot by doing spectacular jumps and even more spectacular knee bends. I may even kneel down.’

Máté Andrássy

‘Máté is in possession of several body surfaces that are almost screaming to be jumped on. So that’s exactly what I’m going to do!’

Milán Újvári

Moves: Máté Andrássy and Milán Újvári

Dramaturg: Attila Soós

Visual Effects: Daniel Dömölky

Technician: Attila Szirtes

Ideas: Gergely Litkai, András Vinnai

Costume and props: Márton István Szabó

Year of Production: 2015

"…The basis of taboo is a forbidden action for which there exists a strong inclination in the unconscious. We know, without understanding it, that whoever does what is prohibited and violates the taboo, becomes himself a taboo."

(Sigmund Freud : Totem and Taboo)

Choreographed and performed by: Bea Egyed, Milán Újvári

Music: Adrian Newgent

Lights: Ferenc Payer

Film: Márton Gothár

Photo: Dániel Dömölky

Special thanks: Attila Soós, Máté Andrássy

Supported by: NKA, Sín Cultural Center, Workshop Foundation, Eva Duda Dance Company-Movein Studio

Year of Production: 2015

The Portray of a sophisticated love triangle, presented by the Eva Duda Dance Company. http://evaduda.net/

Created by: Rosana Hribar and Gregor Lustek

Performed by: Andor Rusu, Beatrix Simko, Milan Ujvari

Lights: Ferenc Payer

Year of Production: 2013

"Intimate, lyrical, unashamedly shy and also a fun addition to the seriousness of the confession that demented state, which is otherwise called love."

(Livia Fuchs: Ketten Kétfelől, Élet és Irodalom, May 3. 2013)

 „Love is complicated, isn’t it? In case you needed a reminder, the Hungarian duo Radioballet has choreographed The Nature of Love.”

 (Siobhan Burke, The New York Times, December 7. 2014.)

Choreographed and performed by: Bea Egyed, Milán Újvári

Music: Montage

Text: Miklós Radnóti, Charles Bukowski

Assistant of dramartugy: Máté Andrássy

Lights: Ferenc Payer

Photo: Dániel Dömölky

Film: Márton Gothár

Awards: Nominated for the Hungarian Rudolf  Laban Prize 2014.

Year of Production: 2013

Choreographed by: Milan Ujvari

Performed by: Mate Andrassy

Music: Tom Waits

Text: Another Bed, Poem by Charles Bukowski

Lights: Ferenc Payer

Awards: Public Prize at SoloDuo Dance Festival Budapest 2013

Year of Production: 2013

In the hands and in the body of a single performer, a 1950s Hungarian ballroom dance manual becomes a tool for questioning today’s dogmas surrounding beauty and education. A disarmingly straightfoward, funny, and personal meeting of a vintage text and a contemporary performance language.

„Milán Újvári’s From the Waltz to the Mambo by Radioballet, a 10-minute performance where Újvári’s movement always works against a found text taken from a 1960s ballroom dance manual promoting “grace, taste and professionalism”. It’s a snippet, but a neatly packaged, beautifully performed one that suggests that it’s better to throw away the manual and respond to Pina Bausch’s cry: “Dance, dance, or we are lost.”

Lyn Gardner (Guardian, October 15. 2014.)

Choreographed and performed by: Milán Újvári

Text: Rudolf Gyeneses-Klára Kovács: From the Waltz to the Mambo (1952)

Lights and sound: Ferenc Payer

Music: Richard Cheese

Photo: Csaba Mészáros / Mátyás Sarvady

Year of Production: 2012

Awards: Public's Prize and The Best Solo Prize 2012 Budapest International SoloDuo Festival, Public's Final Choice Prize 2013 Stuttgart Internationales Solo Tanz Theater Festival, Audience Prize 2013 Gdansk International Solo Dance Contest, Best Performer Prize 2014 BE Festival Birmingham 

Choregographed by: Milan Ujvari

Performed by: Bea Egyed

Music: Peaches

Lights: Ferenc Payer

Year of Production: 2012

Have you the joke about two dancers meeting an odd musician in the street?

Performers: Bea Egyed, Lawrence Williams, Milan Ujvari

Music: Lawrence Williams

Photo: Tibor Várnagy

Choreography: Milan Ujvari

Year of Production: 2011

Forte Company presents:

This intensely physical, beautifully dramatic work is inspired by all revolutionaries of the world, and is a celebration of the human spirit and the search for freedom.

Cast: Mate Andrassy, Virag Arany, Borbala Blasko, Zoltan Grecso, Kata Juhasz, Jozsef Kadas, Csaba Krisztik, Beatrix Simko, Vera Sipos, Milan Ujvari

Set : Nigel Charnock
Costume: Sosa Juristovszky
Sound, Light: Ferenc Payer

Director-choreographer: Nigel Charnock

Year of Production: 2011

Directed by: Rui Horta

Year of Production: 2010

A site-specific dance performance in Art Cinema (Muvesz mozi) Budapest

Created and Performed by: Milan Ujvari

Year of Production: 2008

A site-specific dance performance for the birthday of Budapest iconic cinema Muvesz Mozi. http://muveszmozi.hu/

Created by: Milan Ujvari

Performed by: Kristof Varnagy, Anna Gulyas, Oszkar Gulyas, Kinga Bánhidai, Milan Ujvari, Matyas Sarvady

Year of Production: 2008

A ten minutes long group choreography for the company of Mu Terminal Budapest.

Created by: Milan Ujvari

Performed by: Robert Kiss, Tamas Tuza, Anna Gulyas, Laszlo Madi, Adrienn Hoffman, Adrienn Horváth, Dora Asztalos

Music: Merzbow

Lights: Ferenc Payer

Assistant: Kristof Varnagy

Year of Production: 2008

Between January of 2007 and April of 2008 Milan has been working for Cirque du Soleil. He was playing the role “Golden Boy” in the company’s first arena show Delirium. It has been directed by Victor Pilon and Michel Lemieux and choreographed by Mia Michaels. He took part of the show’s North American and European tour.

A short dance film. Created on the streets of Budapest.

Created by: Milan Ujvari

Camera and Editing: Marton Gothar

Performers: Kristof Varnagy, Peter Juhasz, Andras Dobi, Timea Maday, Kata Kovacs, Timea Semebstyen, Anna Gulyas, Milan Ujvari, Nina Umniakova, Gyorgy Baan, Matyas Sarvady, Viktor Pelle, Boglarka Farkas, Virag Arany, Timea Adam