Andrea Dobi

Andrea DobiAndrea was born in Toronto, one of Canada’s most culturally diverse and cosmopolitan cities. Toronto is a city that welcomes immigrants from all over the world, who have unimpeded opportunity to preserve their language, culture, and traditions. Growing up, Andrea had the good fortune to participate in a variety of Hungarian activities, including attending the Arany János Hungarian School in Toronto where she had her first dance class at the age of 5. She realized at this early age that dance was her passion, which continues to play an important and defining role in her life.

Toronto’s Kodály Ensemble, one of North America’s predominant and well-known Hungarian Folk Dance groups, has been her creative home for close to 30 years, where as Artistic Director she brought her unique perspective in the interpretation of the folk genre . She has been a student of masters such as the Zsuráfsky’s, Szűcs Gábor, Urbán Mária and more recently, Fitos Dezső and Kocsis Enikő. Andrea’s most important mentor,  inspiration and role model throughout has been Németh Ildikó whom she met in 1984.

Her teaching experience runs the spectrum, from preschoolers to adults, and from beginners to individuals at the advanced level. Andrea had also choreographed important works for dance groups across North America and created her first dance theatre thematic work, which premiered in June 2012 to very positive response.

Having travelled extensively throughout Hungary and Transylvania, Andrea has done research and field work in the villages of Gyimes, where her godchildren live.

She has also led many workshops, and has taught and performed with professional dancers of the Budapest and Honvéd Ensemble, such as ifj. Mlinár Pál, Gémesi Zoltán, Gelencsér András and Ertl Péter.

For over 20 years, Andrea has organized and taught at North America’s only child-centric Hungarian folk dance camp – Cifra Dance Camp. Its continued success is a testament to Andrea’s commitment to inspire and motivate children to embrace their culture through Hungarian folk dance.

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