Tamas Moricz: “Practice until you can’t dance it wrong”

Choreographer and dancer Tamas Moricz is often called an architect of movement and a master of impulse—though these titles only hint at his restless, freedom-loving nature that refuses the banal. For ten years, Tamás danced with William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt, becoming not just a performer but a co-creator of new systems and languages of dance. He went on to develop his own approach, which he calls “Mindful Body in Motion”—a practice that, in just a few days, participants of the Jerusalem Ballet Summer Course will be able to experience for themselves (have you signed up yet?).

Where it all began

Tamas was born in Hungary, started with gymnastics, and at the age of eleven entered the National Ballet Academy. Nine years of classical ballet—and already there, perhaps, a quiet energy was building inside him, the kind that would one day push him beyond the confines of school and rigid systems. His first door into a new world was Israel: an invitation from Yehudit Arnon to join Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company. There he first danced the works of Kylián and Ek, and his body, as he recalls, “suddenly discovered it could speak in other languages.”

Then came a year with Jan Fabre. And then—a fateful leap into William Forsythe’s avant-garde laboratory. More than a decade with Ballett Frankfurt, where improvisation became science, and the stage—an architectural blueprint constructed in real time. “There I learned that creativity is not a product but a process. For the first time, I enjoyed the process as much as the performance itself,” says Moricz.

Since then, he has become a wandering architect, building new dance spaces around the world: from Palucca Hochschule in Dresden to the Korean National University of Arts, from Prix de Lausanne to the Venice Biennale. Today he lives in Brussels, but geography seems secondary to him—what matters most is what is born between bodies and time in each workshop.

            Tamas Moricz's worhshop. Photo by Mikkel Carlsen 

Moricz’s philosophy: discipline and freedom

Tamas’s workshops are a weave of impulses, techniques, and states. Classical ballet sits alongside martial arts, Forsythe improvisation alongside yoga and physiotherapy. PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation), cross-hemisphere exercises, working with impulse and weight—all merge into one methodology he simply calls: “Movement and Mindfulness.”

“Nureyev said: Respect the meaning of the movement, don’t interpret it. I tell my students the same. Practice not until you ‘get it right,’ but until you can’t do it wrong,” Moricz smiles.

There is no standard didactic “do as I do” here. Moricz works with the nervous system: training attention, decision-making speed, and the ability to stay in a flowing state where the body itself suggests the right movement. The result? A dancer who does not merely repeat forms but recreates them anew.

The Jerusalem chord

This summer, Moricz joins the Jerusalem Ballet Summer Course. His workshops focus on Forsythe’s improvisation tools—a collection of ideas, as he calls them, that allows dancers to connect multiple movement languages. The goal: to identify the unique qualities of one’s movement and achieve artistic grace.

Perhaps the best description of his approach is his own term: “Mindful Body in Motion”—when attention becomes embodied, and the body itself learns to pay attention.

“We will use exercises to properly align and utilize the body’s own weight and speed for greater dynamism,” Tamás explains. “We will work on active listening within creative flow and connect ideas from diverse sources—Forsythe improvisation techniques, classical ballet training, authentic yoga, martial arts, physiotherapy, PNF, and more. We will dance with respect for the feeling of movement, without interpreting it, while striving for ever-greater precision and rigor.”

And then there is the training of inner speed, the work with impulse and weight, and the art of “listening” to movement. Tamas teaches how to be at once strict and free, focused and open to chance. “This is not about the beauty of form,” he says. “It’s about the authenticity of movement. Beauty comes later, as a consequence.”

                    Tamas Moricz's worhshop. Photo by Mikkel Carlsen 

Moricz on inner movement

“There is a sense of movement that does not come from conscious instruction but from an innate feeling of flow, musicality, rhythm, and dynamics. It is always individual and always present in each of us, even in those who have never studied dance. It is a sense that brings immense satisfaction and joy. Free dance lets this joy flow without attachment to form, in the stream we create.

There is no fixed form, only the innate sense of movement we all possess. Using this innate sense and applying it in the learning process—this is my method. Movement does not need to be aesthetic or skillfully coordinated. It only needs to be authentic.”

Baptism by fire

Tamas likes to recall his first performance in Forsythe’s Second Detail at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm, before the Swedish royal family. A raked stage, a solo full of dizzying pirouettes, and just 40 minutes to learn a finale he had never seen.

“I had never danced on a raked stage. My solo had several crazy pirouettes that were difficult even on a flat floor. To make things worse, during the dress rehearsal I realized I hadn’t even seen the last section of the ballet, let alone learned it… It was a complex pattern of dancers weaving quickly through one another, each step timed to avoid collisions. We had never rehearsed it in Frankfurt, and I had only 40 minutes to learn it.

I was told: ‘Follow Pascal, and don’t hit anyone.’ And somehow, it all worked out perfectly. That’s when I learned the golden rule of a dancer: learn fast and keep your eyes open.”

                       Tamas Moricz. Photo by Mikkel Carlsen 

Who his workshops are for

Tamas Moricz is a teacher for those unafraid of uncertainty. For those who seek meaning, not just form. For those who value not only precision but also risk, chance, and freedom. His workshops are about learning to be yourself in movement—and letting the audience see not combinations, but a living, honest body.

Workshops with Tamas Moricz (for young dancers aged 14–20 with strong training in ballet and modern) will take place August 10–15, 2025 at the Jerusalem Ballet Studio, Teddy Stadium, Jerusalem.
To register via WhatsApp: +972 54-440-6461 (Phyllis)