This Sioux Falls dance academy had ties to the Hungarian Resistance: Looking back
For many children, organized physical activities of one sort or another are a part of life. Some kids take martial arts, baseball, or soccer. For others its gymnastics or dance lessons. Few children have access to instruction from world-class instructors. For a period between 1970 and 1979, Sioux Falls was home to a ballet instructor with credentials rarely found in a Midwestern town. Her name was Judith Kemeny Szakats.
Judith started dancing around 1935 at age 9 in the Hungarian Opera House Ballet. By age 14, she received her first scholarship and became a member of the opera house. Here she worked hard to become Prima Ballerina. In her 28 years with the opera house, she toured most of Europe, performing in some of the finest venues in the world. Later she went to Leningrad and Moscow, where she studied choreography and learned to teach ballet.
Her husband, Miklos Szakats, was a well-known Hungarian actor, and was a star of stage and screen. He appeared in more than 40 films between 1943 and 1969, and was adored in Hungary. He made many acquaintances and connections in his time, some of whom were people of great importance. In 1969, he felt it prudent to flee communist Hungary when the state was putting pressure on him to spy on those friends and acquaintances. He was given asylum in the United Kingdom, but yearned to live in America, where his daughter had moved. Henry Kissinger assured him that a place could be found for him in the State Department.
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Miklos and Judith arrived in Sioux Falls after a year spent in the UK, and took over ownership of the Academy of Dance Arts and the Ballet and Jazz Center, two businesses that had been established years before. Judith trained the children the way she was taught, and shared her love of the art with all willing to listen. Miklos took a job teaching acting at the University of South Dakota.
During their time in Sioux Falls, Judith taught some of the best dancers the city ever produced: Paul Boos, Cynthia Higbee, Michele Dormaier, and Rebecca Polzine, among many others. Many went on to train further in New York and London.
Miklos was able to teach at USD for three years, but was denied tenure. He spent his time applying for new jobs and hoping to hear back from Kissinger. As his search continued without success, he became crestfallen. The stress of it was affecting his health. In 1978, he had three heart attacks in two weeks’ time.
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In 1979, Miklos and Judith made plans to leave for Austria. Miklos had relatives there, and had secured a job with the Eurovision television network, producing and directing shows and movies. By the time of their departure, Miklos was able to reveal that he had been a member of the Hungarian Resistance. He worked against the Russians as he had the Nazis during World War II. He was imprisoned by both in his time, but his powerful connections were able to secure his freedom. When he and Judith left Hungary in 1969, it was shortly after eight of his cohorts were executed outside his bedroom window. The nature of his work was classified for several years after the two had defected.
The Judith Szakats Ballet Studio was taken over by Judith’s senior student, 20-year-old Rebecca Polzine, who’d studied with Szakats since she was 14. Polzine left the name of the studio unchanged, and shared her love of dance with the next generation of dancers.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: This Sioux Falls dance academy had ties to the Hungarian Resistance: Looking back
