László Seregi (1929 – 11 May 2012) was a
Hungarian dancer
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...
and
choreographer
Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...
who served as the primary choreographer of the National Opera of Budapest.
Born in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, László Seregi originally wished to become a designer. In 1949, however, he changed directions and pursued a career in dance. He studied traditional dance with Iván Szabó and classical dance with Marcella Nádasi.
As a character dancer for the opera of Budapest, where he began performing 1957, Seregi advanced in the company to eventually become a master of ballet in 1967. He then became the ballet director from 1977 to 1984. He was responsible for the opera's
folk dances in the 1950s, and then for Opera performances in the 1960s, including
Gounod
Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...
's Faust,
Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's Tannhaüser. In 1968, he choreographed "
Spartacus
Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising ...
'", his first ballet in three acts with the Soviet Armenian composer
Aram Khachaturian
Aram Ilyich Khachaturian (; rus, Арам Ильич Хачатурян, , ɐˈram ɨˈlʲjitɕ xətɕɪtʊˈrʲan, Ru-Aram Ilyich Khachaturian.ogg; hy, Արամ Խաչատրյան, ''Aram Xačʿatryan''; 1 May 1978) was a Soviet and Armenian ...
.
His work has been widely recognized in Hungary and abroad, having performed and presented performances in theaters and Opera houses in Moscow, Rome, Prague, Bordeaux, Edinburgh, Cologne, Saint Petersburg, Kyiv, Berlin, Monte Carlo, Vienna, Salzburg, Paris, Turin, London, Zurich and Sydney.
László Seregi died on May 11, 2012, in Budapest at the age of 83.
Hungarian State Opera Announcement of Seregi Month
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seregi, Laszlo
1929 births
2012 deaths
Hungarian male dancers
Hungarian choreographers