Filipino Artist Leads Contemporary Dance Shows in Budapest
Ortega (left) was joined by Minister and Consul General Roderico C. Atienza at the theater lobby after his performance on 11 November 2023 in the role of Florentino Ariza, one side of the infamous love triangle depicted in Nobel Prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez’s ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’
BUDAPEST 30 November 2023 – An award-winning Filipino professional artist was recently featured as one of the lead performers in two contemporary dance shows by the Hungarian performing arts foundation Inversedance at the National Dance Theatre, Budapest.
Clark David Bonus Ortega, a graduate of Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA) and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA), performed on 08 November 2023 in the premiere of two new pieces: “Awaken, My Love”, which he also choreographed, and “The Unconscious Self”, together with Bianka Bódi, Chiara Alessandro, Lilla Jenei, and Yun Ju Huang.
Ortega was next seen performing on 11 November 2023 in the role of Florentino Ariza, one side of the infamous love triangle depicted in Nobel Prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez’s ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’ at the same venue located in Millenáris Park on the Buda side of the Hungarian capital. Rome-trained Italian artist Chiara Alessandro played Fermina Daza.
Ortega, who received the Manolo Rosado Award (Best Male Performer) in the Philippines’ First CCP Ballet Competition in 2014 and was awarded as Outstanding Student Artist for Dance (Ballet) on his graduation day in PHSA in 2015, is actually based in Budapest.
Finishing his Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours Degree in Dance at the HKAPA in 2019, Ortega joined Inversedance Company since February 2020.
His extensive exposure in Hungarian dance circles through his performances in beloved works La Bohéme, Adventures of the Little Bear Vackor, and Vuk, the Little Fox earned him the recognition of Best Male Dancer of the Season in the modern-contemporary category by the Hungarian Dance Artists’ Association at the 2023 Dance Awards on 29 April 2023.
The Philippine Embassy’s officers and staff, who were invited by Inversedance Company founder and artistic director Zoltán Fodor to both performances, made Ortega’s acquaintance after the shows. Fodor is a recipient of the 2010 Gyula Harangozó Prize as a dancer and choreographer.
The Harangozó Prize is a state award that is accorded by the Hungarian government in recognition of creative, performing, scientific and pedagogical activity in any branch of dance. Seven individuals receive the award every year, on the 15th of March. END
Mr. Ortega stands at the stage with (to his immediate left) the Embassy’s Ria Gorospe, First Secretary and Consul, and Sheridan Sabeniano, Protocol Officer and Attaché, together with Inversedance Company women members and officials, namely (from far left) Mr. Péter Ertl (Director of the National Dance Theater), Mr. Zoltán Fodor (Founder, Artistic Director, Choreographer, and Dancer), and Mr. Zoltán Sandor (International Manager)
For more information, visit https://www.budapestpe.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/PHLinHungary/.