Bio

Sebastián Cortés Choreographer, Director

Born in Venezuela as the son of a Hungarian mother and a Chilean father, cultural diversity and open-minded curiosity have always been a defining characteristic of his way of thinking.

He graduated from the University of Theatre and Film Arts, Budapest, Hungary, in 2007. He has worked as a choreographer and movement coach for numerous theatres around Budapest and other Hungarian cities, in musicals, drama, comedy and physical theatre. Among his most popular works are Hungarian Critics’ Award Winner Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, a show performed no less than 600 times; and the Budapest premiere of Tony Award winner Avenue Q, a blend of musical comedy and puppet theatre.

He has worked at theatres in the Hungarian countryside on performances such as Déjà Vu, based on Ettore Scola’s film Le Bal, Goethe’s masterpiece Faust, and the world famous West Side Story.

He has been a movement coach for the French farce A Flea in Her Ear at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, USA, and he most recently directed a physical theatre performance of Niklas Rådström’s Monsters for graduating BSc acting students of the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy.

Pedagogical work with acting students has focused his attention ever more to the theory of acting and the physical methods of actor training. As a result, he has returned to the University of Theatre and Film Arts, Budapest, to conduct doctoral research on this topic. As part of his research, he has participated in courses and workshops in Siena, Italy; Vilnius, Lithuania; Santiago, Chile, Plainfield, USA, and has been experimenting with his own method as well during workshops held at the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy, the Art University of Târgu Mureş, Romania, the Birmingham City University, UK, and the University of Theatre and Film Arts, Budapest.

At the moment he is exploring the ever changing relationships of actor, text and movement (Monsters, Our Kind of Animals, The First Supper).