Hungarian guest appearances and a gold at the 23rd International Circus Festival of Italy

On the 13th of October, Fabio Montico premiered his newest edition of The Festival Circo Latina in Italy. They have produced a new festival every year since 1999, each with new and exciting artists from around the globe. Thanks to the efforts of General Director of the Capital Circus of Budapest; Péter Fekete; Urban Verbunk, along with the balette of The Kijev Academy of Circus Arts, have been the latest production to join the ranks at the festival. Due to the Russian-Ukranian war, the original dance troupe scheduled to appear at the festival could not attend, therefore in the interest of solidarity and co-operation, as a last minute resolution, the Hungarian team was sent to take place at the festival.

Urban Verbunk is an internationally acclaimed Hungarian folk dance company, lead and choreographed by three-time Hungarian award winner Moussa Ahmed. The dance troupe from the Kijev Academy are just some of the many Ukranian artists given asylum by the National Center for Circus Arts in Budapest since the beginning of the Russian-Ukranian war.

Laido Dittmár, Gábriel Grandpierre and József Richter Jr. & Troupe were the artists representing Hungary at the prestigious Italian circus festival. The final gala show and awards ceremony took place on the 17th of October. The jury panel consisted of highly distinguished circus dirctors, producers, agency presidents and casting directors, who judged the performers and performances not just on skill, but also on appearance, presentation and showmanship. During the awards ceremony, a special thanks was given to the General Director Péter Fekete for his help in supplying the dance troupe for the festival.

There were many special prizes, contracts and awards being presented that evening. All three Hungarian artists recieved multiple awards for their performances at the festival. Most noteable of which were:

  • An invitation to the Echo of Asia Circus Festival in Kazakhstan, presented to Laido Dittmár
  • The Monte Carlo Next Generation Special Award and an invitation to the next Monte Carlo Next Generation Festival, presented to Gábriel Grandpierre
  • A Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to József Richter Sr.
  • And finally one of the two main Gold Latina Awards was presented to József Richter Jr. and The Magyar Nemzeti Circusz Troupe.

The Capital Circus of Budapest congratulates everyone on their praise-worthy achievements and applauds them for their hard work, and for adding yet another commendable success to the name of Hungarian circus and arts.

Lili Konyot