Our history

The activities of the Arts and Research partnership (as the successor of sole proprietor Anna Mária Bólya and BOLYART Ltd.) started in 1994, mainly with elementary art education and the organization of summer art courses and camps. The courses included music and dance education programs as well as promotional programs for children and young people aged 8-16. 

In 2005, the art education activities were integrate into the framework of an elementary art school: Aquincum-Szántó Primary Art Education Institute, 2005-2010. The school operated instrumental, singing and dancing departments. 

In 2012, a Balkan folklore research project was launched, focusing on the Macedonian culture. The research project examines the links between Macedonian culture and the dance tradition. 

In 2017, the project "Innovative methods in dance higher education" was launched. In the final publication, the research group examined the novelties of dance education methodology and dance higher education, such as the possibilities of the coaching approach, the HY-DE method, the VR-based dance history illustration, and the compilation of the e-learning course.The project was supported by the HAA Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology, the Faculty of Computer Science of the University of Debrecen, the Hungarian Dance University.

In 2018, a project called 'Auróra' was launched to explore certain points in the history of Hungarian ballet. This project examined the great eras of Hungarian ballet history, starting with the opening of the first National Theater, the operation of ballet master Federico Campilli and the primaballerina of Hungarian romanticism Emília Aranyváry.

In 2018, a project was launched that offers a solution to a typical recent problem. The HY-DE method, developed by a reading researcher, offers a solution to strike a balance between the excessive hyper-attention and the under-represented deep attention of the 'digital native' generations. In the project, we are creating dance history teaching materials, teaching support materials and timed multimedia materials based on the HY-DE method. HY-DE-based curriculum has been developed for almost all of the research projects that have been launched since 2017.

In 2019, we started researching the history of Hungarian dance art with an art theory approach. In this longer project, the Hungarian dance art as a tradition is examined in its multiple meanings. Starting with the 1938 all-art-production, the Hungarian Full-play, the project examines the ways of artistic reinterpretation of folk dance, as well as the traditions of Hungarian dance theater aspirations. It examines the specific artistic approaches of the Hungarian dance theater, based on the Hungarian Choreographic School and the typical oeuvres of 20th century choreographers. 

In 2019, a project was launched to create virtual spaces for teaching dance history. The first content based on the visualization of the first Hungarian National Theater building (1837), which no longer exists, was created with the Unity game engine and reconstructed the theater's auditorium and stage as an exhibition space. The second content created a 3D educational room in the MaxWhere operating system developed by Hungarian researchers based on the visualization of the National Theater. The use of space during the pandemic period was tested   in university education. 

In a project from autumn 2021 to spring 2023, we tested the ballet historical MaxWhere presentation room in university and college education, as a space for presentation and collaboration. We also provide ballet history materials, which we offer as ready-made MaxWhere presentations. The preliminary research of the project and the pilot project were supported by Arts and Research Ltd, EFOP-3.6.3-VEKOP-16-2017-00002 (European Union, European Social Funds), the International Visegrad Fund, the Virtual Reality Laboratory of the University of Debrecen, the HAA Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology, the Arts Open Access Journal of MDPI, E-Rent Mobility Solutions.

In a pilot that started in 2022 the international research team explore how cognitive skills related to body-kinesthetic and musical intelligence can be enhanced using 3D spatial context technologies. A preliminary investigation was presented leveraging motion- tracking analytics to discern the nuances across distinct ballet exercise intensities. During this preliminary study, participants' kinesthetic motions were meticulously captured and scrutinized. Extending the method to folk dance movements, we will launch a 3D project related to the preservation of cultural heritage in 2024.  Main collaborators: CYENS Cyprus, Professor Péter Baranyi's team, HAA Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology, EuropaBallett, Academy of Music Dance and Fine Arts, Kazimierz Wielki University Institute of Mathematics, Institute for Folklore "Marko Cepenkov", Csillagszemű Dance Ensemble, Dusan Hegli Company.