Zsuzsánna Törzsök was born in November 1985 in Târgu Mureș, her ancestors being from the Niraj Valley. She became fond of folk dance, folk tradition and folk music at an early age, as her grandparents and parents were also active participants in said activities. As a child, she spent a lot of time in Vadu and Isla, where she experienced the colourful palette of folk traditions and customs observed around Easter, Christmas, harvest and other celebrations.
Zsuzsi started to learn folk dance at the age of 10 as a member of the Napsugár Folk Dance Group in Târgu Mureș, which was then led by Albert Füzesi and Ildikó Bodor. At that time, the first children’s folk dance group was started in Târgu Mureș, where she was accepted because of her good sense of rhythm and her skills playing musical instruments.
She started ninth grade at the Mihai Eminescu Pedagogical High School, studying leisure programme planning, and hoped that the knowledge she’d acquire there would contribute greatly to making her dreams come true. After graduation, she was asked to teach folk dance, for the first time, at the same school in Târgu Mureș where she had been a student. In recognition of her work, she was invited to teach folk dance in several schools. Persevering, overcoming difficulties and making compromises when it came to her free time, she remained a member of the Napsugár Folk Dance Ensemble, later on, from 2003 she became a professional dancer of the Mureșul Artistic Ensemble, and for 3 years she was also the leader of the women’s dance group.
In 2012, Zsuzsi graduated from the University of Arts Târgu Mureș, where she had studied choreography and performing arts. She regularly participates in Ágnes Tálas’ Lipinka courses and in the courses organized by The Association of Hungarian Folk Dance from Romania.
She founded the Borsika Folk Dance Ensemble in autumn 2016 with her former colleague, Levente Nagy. She believes that we can only influence children with humbleness, sincerity and the right example. She thinks that folk songs should be learned at an early age, because they represent a means to expressing our joy, love, sorrow and pain. And the most effective way to prepare for the basic steps of folk dance is through children’s games and rhythm exercises. Folk music and dance is a therapy, it has a self-healing effect – Zsuzsi has also experienced this through her students with disabilities. She stands by the fact that folk dance and performing gives children self-confidence and the ability to open up, overcome their fears and inhibitions.
