Zoltán was born in 1955 in the county of Somogy, Hungary, where he started his dance career at an early age.
In his high school years he studied with Sándor Tímár, choreographer and one of Hungary's best known dance teachers, who proved to be a great influence in Zoltán's life. Under the artistic supervision of Tímár, Zoltán danced in the Bartók Dance Ensemble in Budapest from 1974-1982.
Meanwhile, he earned a degree at the College of Commerce and Restaurant Management of Budapest.
He is fluent in English and German.

Zoltán was one of the founders and organisers of the Summások /1982-1983/ and the Pátria /1984-1985/ "chamber" folk dance groups. From 1984 to 1989 he was artistic director of the Lelle Dance Ensemble.
Furthermore, he has performed and taught is several countries of Europe, Asia, and in the USA.
Since 1981 he has been teaching Hungarian traditional dances at the Téka and Méta dance houses /táncház/ in Budapest. In the summer from 1981 to 1991 he was responsible for the folk dance programs at the annual Téka folk arts camp in Nagykálló. He taught traditional dance classes at the Zsolnai Experimental Elementary School in Törökbálint. He has also been teaching, organising and directing Hungarian traditional dance shows and workshops and is an adviser and choreographer for various dance groups in Hungary and abroad.

For his extensive work teaching dance to children, Zoltán received the "For the Youth" merit award in1985. In recognition of his performing abilities and devotion to the preservation of Hungarian folk traditions, he won the "Young Master of Folk Art" award in 1986. For the better part of 1989 a Fulbright scholarship enabled Zoltán to travel extensively and teach Hungarian and Romanian traditional dances throughout the United States.
Since 1989 he has been regularly giving workshops in Cologne, Frankfurt, Hannover, Amsterdam, Luxembourg and taught choreographies for the Búzavirág Hungarian Dance Group in Rozsnyó, Slowakia. Several times he has been teaching as a guest instructor in Slowakia at the ANNUAL MUSIC and DANCE CAMP in Nagyfödémes and in Transylvania, Romania at the VÁLASZÚT ANNUAL MUSIC and DANCE CAMP organised by the local associations of the Hungarian minorities.

In 1991 and 1993 he has been travelling again to the US, working with the Tisza Ensemble in Washington D.C., teaching at the "TiTi Tábor" traditional dance camp in Seattle, at the KOLO FESTIVAL in San Francisco and in Minneapolis, the Ethnic Dance Theatre. He has also performed in Chicago at the 31ST ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL in the fall of 1993.

From 1994 he is the artistic director of the BARTÓK DANCE ENSEMBLE in Budapest.

Zoltán J. Nagy has developed a pedagogic concept, following the ideas of Sándor Tímár, in which dances from the villages are preserved in their original style and format. Dancers are taught the art of free improvisation not based on cold professionalism, instead on the liveliness of the village dances in their traditional social function.

OFFERED PROGRAMS:

Lectures, master classes for adults and dance groups
Dance seminars
Choreographies
Dance house-style teaching and dance house leading for all ages
School programs with demonstrations, video and costume show
Hungarian traditional dance classes for school children
Performances with tapes ( by special request with live music!)

BOOKING INFORMATION:

Availability: adequate dressing room, minimum stage size 3x3 for performance, no slippery floor !!!
Fees: negotiable, depending on the combinations of the programs

CONTACT: Zoltán J. Nagy
nagyzj@kulturnart.hu
Phone: 36-20-5482-382