Dancing from Hungary to Columbia
By Balázs Krajczár
Editor's note: This

(left) Balázs Krajczár performs in the ballet Paquita in June, 2007. (Right) Krajczár during dress rehearsal for Columbia Classical Ballet Company's The Nutcracker.

of Balázs Krajczár, a young

man from Hungary whose

dream of coming to America

to dance came true.

When I was seven- years- old I lived in Budapest, Hungary. My mother took me to Bela Bartok Music School for a year where music became a part of me and has never left.

After moving to Gyor, Hungary, about an hour and a half away from Budapest, I went to a regular school for three years and took ballroom dance two nights a week. Apparently, I was pretty good at it because a man organizing the shows told my mom to take me to the professional ballet school in Gyor. The man said, "The kid has more potential than just dancing on made- up stages in front of malls or in restaurants." I went to the professional ballet school for three years.

Then someone told my mom to take the next step, which led me to the Hungarian Dance Academy in Budapest.

But hard times came. I was comfortable in Gyor and did not want to go to the capital city. My mom offered me a deal. I should go for a year, and if I didn't like it, I could come home. During the third week in the new school on September 19, my father died. It was hard for me to lose a father at age 13. I was very young and noticing the world around me, but I was old enough to understand what happened.

Three years went by, and I was in the hands of a teacher who was like my father, which was exactly what I needed.

In 2003, I had the chance to go to San Lorenzo de el Escorial in Spain to attend a summer program. That was my first time working with Cuban teachers, "the monks of ballet." I spent three important weeks there, which dramatically influenced my dancing. The school supports very few talented dancers each year giving them the opportunity to go to international summer programs to improve. The dancers only pay about 30 percent of the cost; otherwise, most of them would not be able to go.

The next year I went to Vienna for an international ballet competition where I won third prize. Then I was selected for a six- week summer program in Charlotte, N.C. where I learned the Nutcracker pas de deux with three other dancers from my school. My teacher went to the director and told him not to let me go to America because my attitude was not right, but the director let me go for the summer.

I discovered a new way of dancing and immediately fell in love with it. I wanted to stay in America to study, but I had to go back that summer. It would not have been fair to the school to stay, but I never gave up the idea of coming back to the United States.

A really hard year came in Hungary. I lost my passion for dance and arts, which I am not whole without. I could only dream about one thing, returning to America.

One of the greatest teachers I ever worked with, Gyula Pandi, brought me back to America and made my dream come true. In 2005, I ended up in Charlotte, N.C. and danced with the second company North Carolina Dance Theatre for a year. Pandi helped me through the year, just like a father. I will always be thankful for everything Mr. Pandi did for me.

I had a great year in Charlotte and made a lot of friends. After the year I decided to go back to Hungary to finish my last year in school.

One of my best friends danced with Columbia Classical Ballet the year I was in Charlotte so we saw each other often. When I visited Columbia, I met Radenko Pavlovich, the director of the Columbia Classical Ballet Company and took classes with him several times.

In April, 2007, while in Hungary, I got in touch with Mr. Pavlovich, and we began to work out a plan for me to come back to America and dance with the Columbia Classical Ballet Company. I signed the contract and boarded the plane in early July. My dream came true.

I will be dancing the role of the Nutcracker in Columbia Classical Ballet's

performance of The Nutcracker.

The performances are Friday, November 30 at 7:30 pm; Saturday, December 1, at 3 pm and 7:30 pm; and Sunday, December 2, at 3 pm at the Koger Center. Twenty other young people in the Columbia Classical Ballet Company have similar stories to tell like mine and will be dancing in one or more

roles in this weekend's The

Nutcracker. We invite you to join us.