“After last year’s success, Dancing On The Square will be back again this year. I’m really happy that Iván Fischer and the Festival Orchestra have invited me to perform this exceptionally exciting task again. Children who have applied from around the country get acquainted with classical music and dance through a long rehearsal period, by the end of which the hundreds of students show what they had been practising for months in a live performance.

I hope that this performance will also be a great experience for both the audience and the performers alike, and that, just like last year, several people will walk up to me in Heroes’ Square afterwards and say ‘wow, that was really great! Can we do this again next year!!??’”
Bertalan Vári, lead choreographer

“We would like to live in a world where every young person can find their place and community”

says the mission statement of the Foundation For Democratic Youth (FDY).

To that end, they work to help young people think responsibly about the future, gain experience and knowledge about the world around them, learn to say their piece in situations that involve them, and make them a part of the solution to the problems in their communities.

The FDY team assists the Budapest Festival Orchestra in encouraging the Dancing on the Square project’s children to get to know each other as well as they can, in addition to the musical and dancing experience, to help them learn about each other and the importance of co-operation, trust, respect and a positive attitude.

The Festival Orchestra, working closely with the FDY, is organising a summer camp and regional events for these meetings.