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KIN Conversations: Bettina Rose Jurák
Kin Conversations is a space for conversation, reflection and inspiration – a place to slow down and sit with ideas that shape how we live, create and care for ourselves.
After nearly three decades devoted to movement, Bettina Rose Jurák is in a quieter, more conscious chapter. A professional dancer raised in the discipline of ballet, she recently stepped away from the stage for the first time — a pause that reshaped her relationship to her body, to ambition, and to softness. Now returning to training and performance, her practice feels different. Less about perfection, more about presence. Movement as meditation. We spoke with Bettina about boundaries, resilience, creative process, and what it means to crack your heart open.
Images by @hangaviniczai, words by Aisling Rose Portman, in conversation with Bettina Rose Jurak.
I live in Hungary and recently moved to a beautiful part of the city, almost at the top of a mountain. From my home, I can see the city stretching out below me, while a garden surrounds the space. Every morning I wake up to birds singing, which still feels like such a gift. What I love most is that I’m very close to the city center, yet when I’m home, I can truly rest and enjoy the quiet within the chaos. My space is quite old-fashioned – I love vintage things and wooden details. It’s filled with candles, romantic elements, flowers, and objects that carry a sense of history. Creating a home like this is deeply important to me; it’s where I feel grounded, safe, and at peace.
I’m a professional dancer, and after nine years of being constantly on stage, I recently took four months off from dancing. It was very needed and incredibly refreshing. During that time, my days looked completely different – I spent more time with friends, enjoyed being in one country after so much travel, and lived at a slower pace, something I had rarely allowed myself before due to the strict lifestyle of an almost top-level athlete.
Now, I’m slowly stepping back into my professional dance life, and my days are shifting again. They often begin with training – ballet, Pilates, or improvisation – followed by rehearsals and performances in the evening. It can be quite intense, but I’m freelancing, so there’s a beautiful variety. Some days I’m shooting films or commercials; other days are quieter. On those days, I love going to the famous Hungarian baths alone or with close friends, resting, reconnecting, and simply enjoying each other’s company.
I always loved to move. From the very beginning, movement felt natural to me – almost necessary. Dance is a portal for me: my body does its own work, and most of the time I’m not consciously controlling everything. I’m channeling emotions, stories, love – letting them move through me. It’s my moving meditation. When I was two and a half years old, my grandmother put me into ballet classes, and I’ve been dancing ever since. I’ll turn 29 in a few weeks, which means I’ve been dancing for 27 years without a real break. You can probably imagine why I needed to pause not so long ago. That break felt essential – it was a long and beautiful “moment” to breathe, to listen, and to come back to movement with more softness and awareness.
A collaboration between bodies and minds. Something deeply human. It’s filled with love and acceptance, but also challenge, pain, and fear. All of those elements live together in the process – and that’s what makes it honest, alive, and transformative.
I recently created a dance piece called CRACK YOUR HEART OPEN. It’s a work centered around being a woman – around our processes, our endurance, and our immense strength. No matter what happens to us, we carry so much resilience, and that strength can be both empowering and overwhelming.
I grew up without my father, raised by my mother and grandmother. I watched them step into their masculine sides more than felt healthy, at least in my experience – out of necessity, survival, and responsibility. Through this piece, I wanted to explore something different for myself: how to remain soft and gentle while still holding strength. CRACK YOUR HEART OPEN lives in that space – between power and vulnerability, protection and openness.
Lately, I’ve been listening a lot to powerful women’s voices – Florence Welch, Sandrayati, Indigo Spark. Women who speak and sing honestly about how difficult it can be to be strong while staying true to your values as a woman. It’s a fragile topic in my life right now, and I’m drawn to these energies – sometimes anger, sometimes softness. I love allowing myself to feel all of it and letting those emotions move through me.
Happiness, to me, is…
Presence. Connection. Love.
What do you think 2026 holds for you?
I feel 2026 will be about more conscious choices around my boundaries, while staying open at the same time. I’ve just moved back to Hungary, so it feels like a year of reconnection – with my friends, my family, and with myself. Coming home in many layers.
It’s also a year of deepening. Deepening my knowledge of somatic practices feels very important to me right now. This December, I’ll graduate from the Somatic Institute as a somatic educator for women, and I feel this path slowly weaving into everything I do – in movement, in life, in how I relate to others.
Comfort is those moments when I can fully give myself. When my belly can relax, my nervous system can calm down, and my body softens. It’s time spent with the people I love. It’s being at home. A candle burning. The smell of incense in the air. Simple, quiet moments that allow me to feel safe enough to rest.
What are you working on at the moment — creatively or otherwise?
I am currently in the process of creating a new piece with a Hungarian dance company. We will premiere our new production on the 8th of May, so it’s a busy period full of rehearsals and creative work – but I am definitely enjoying it. At the same time, I am working with a few clients, offering dance therapy sessions. It’s a beautiful way to reconnect with ourselves, to deepen the connection with our bodies and our inner world. I genuinely love working with people, especially in one-on-one settings. It feels so raw, beautiful, and intimate – I truly love these sessions. I also love combining my life as a professional dancer with my work as a somatic teacher, as it brings a sense of balance between these two worlds.
