Meet Boroka Nagy

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Boroka Nagy. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Boroka, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

Growing up in Hungary until the age of 7, I experienced a significant change when my family moved to New York City due to a political changeover in Hungary. My parents wanted to provide us with a better future, and that decision fundamentally shaped my resilience.

As a 7-year-old, I went from having my own room, a dog, a big yard, and a tight-knit community to not knowing anyone, not speaking the language, and sharing a single bed with my family in a one-bedroom apartment. This drastic shift was challenging, but it taught me invaluable lessons about life.

My parents emphasized the importance of priorities such as family, faith, gratitude, perseverance, and hard work. They instilled in me and my brother the idea that life is not just about the end-result but about using the skills and talents we have been given and staying loyal to the things we have been called to do. Knowing our priorities helped me understand that my actions have consequences, strengthening my decision-making skills and instilling in me the importance of taking ownership of my future and holding myself accountable. I also learned early on that mistakes have consequences and that there is something to be learned from them to facilitate growth.

Through our immigration experience, we learned the importance of pivoting if our plans didn’t work out, shifting plans by building on the work that had already been put in. Immigration teaches you to be resourceful, improvise, think on your feet, and honor the work of past generations.

These experiences helped me realize that resilience is not just about getting up when you’ve fallen down, but about respecting what is behind you and moving ahead strategically while adhering to the standards you’ve set for yourself.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m Boróka Nagy, a dancer and choreographer, and the founder of a new non profit Reborn Arts. I am deeply passionate about what we do, and I’m thrilled to share it with you.

Reborn Arts is a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering people of all ages to discover their fundamental sense of selves through movement and empathic well-being. Our goal is to create experiences that lead to catharsis. Catharsis releases self-defeating thoughts. Catharsis fosters positive emotions. Consequent, movement and dance revive communities through their transformative power.

Our role and mission is to create experiences that rise above divisions of gender, culture, and social and economic background. We provide life-giving movement experiences, such as immersive modern dance events in site specific spaces. The productions are curated to break cycles of isolation, we foster a space for shared experiences and a sense of belonging to the immediate and broader communities. It’s hard to describe in words the experience of an immersive Reborn Arts show, but imagine witnessing the dance expression of vulnerable moments in life unravel merely 2-5 feet from you. As an audience member, you become a part of the scene, and where you go, what you do, and how you decide to move around the space influences how both you and the other audience members will experience the show.
Ultimately, with Reborn Arts, I want to create deep emotional experiences that bring ownership and a living, breathing presence to sometimes repressively structured lives.

I started my dance company Re:borN Dance Interactive in 2016, but we just recently turned into the non profit Reborn Arts. As a new non profit company we have so much to look forward to! One of our biggest goals is to expand so we can produce more frequent performances and reach even more people. We’re particularly excited about our plans to tour our latest production, HOME, which premiered in May 2023. This production is a heartfelt exploration of belonging and identity, and what the notion of home really means. I’m also starting to research and dive into a new immersive show to premier hopefully in 2025, called Rerooted, which will be inspired by the folk narratives of various cultural groups.
Immersive art is incredibly important because it breaks down barriers and creates profound, shared experiences. Dance, specifically, is an irreplaceable part of our cultural fabric. It speaks a universal language that transcends words and connects us all. Through dance, we can communicate emotions and stories that touch the very core of our humanity.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Looking back at my journey, the thing that sticks out most is how dance has been the consistent language I myself have been able to express my life struggles, joys, and curiosities through. To do any craft takes a lot of trial and error, and if I have to narrow it down to three impactful ingredients and follow it up with advice to a future choreographer, dancer, and director, I’d say:

1. Always know the answer to “Why?” This will make your work more impactful, filter out the unnecessary things, and ultimately have a clear reason for existing. Due to its elusive nature, artists are often “interrogated” about their art. Having a reason for why you choreographed a piece for example, or why a certain piece of music will take you further in the field, and leave you feeling more empowered.

2. If you are provided with an opportunity to explore in a curated setting, take it. For me, this was my MFA at University of California, Irvine. I was able to get a full scholarship to the dance MFA program, which provided a space for me to really find my voice as a choreographer. The access to talented dancers, lighting and sound designers, theater spaces, valuable feedback, costumes, and production equipment and props lifted the monetary restrictions to creating the work that existed in my mind. It may not be a masters program, but a residency, or even getting a job at a dance studio that offers space for choreographing on their dancers. Get creative in how you can have the room to lift the burdens of production in the beginning, until you really know what you want to do and…why.

3. Study lighting, set, and sound design. To me, this opened up the world of dance immensely. The collaboration of these various design elements with dance helps facilitate what the movement alone can’t accomplish. Seek out this knowledge online, through courses, friends, connections, etc. Talk to people to learn more. You will be one step ahead of the game if you have some knowledge of lighting, set, and sound design as a dancer, choreographer, and director.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Reborn Arts was founded on the notion of multiple artforms coming together to create a greater impact on both the participating artists and the audience. With that, I’m always looking for people to collaborate with! Specifically, I’m looking to start finding collaborators for the new show I mentioned earlier, “Rerooted.” In this project, I really want the collaborative process of discovery to be just as much a cathartic experience as the final show itself. “Rerooted” will begin with the artists involved to dig deep into their heritage to find cultural narratives unique to their ethnic backgrounds. I am looking for musicians, photographers, filmmakers, set/stage designers, lighting designers, and sound designers to come together and create a world that only exists within the show. “Rerooted” will be a multi-dimensional experience, integrating art forms and transporting viewers from Southern California’s urban fragmentation to an international realm where cultures converge and inspire each other. I personally can only speak on my Hungarian roots authentically. I wish the cast and crew of this new immersive show to represent the diversity of Southern California. Anyone interested in collaborating can email me at boroka@reborndance.org.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rebornarts.org
• Instagram: @reborndance
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/borokanagy/

Image Credits

Jazley Faith, George Simian, Steven Chan