Rita Széll

is a dancer, a researcher specializing in the Renaissance and the Baroque era, a choreographer and the director of the ARBEAU Historic Dance Ensemble. She is a lecturer at the Liszt Academy of Music, the Hungarian College of Dance and the Eötvös University of Sciences.

Széll graduated from the Liszt Academy as a choral conductor and teacher of music theory. She started studying the harpsichord with János Sebestyén and she concluded her studies with Isolde Ahlgrimm at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, receiving a diploma as a harpsichordist.

Since 1985 she has been thoroughly researching historical dances; she has also made efforts to widely propagate this kind of dance material in Hungary. She conducted her dance studies in Austria, Germany, Italy and France. In 1998 she completed a postgradual course at the Institut für Musikwissenschaft of the Salzburg University.

Széll founded the ARBEAU Historic Dance Ensemble in 1985. It performs dances of the period between the 15th and the 18th centuries. They regularly appear at early music festivals in Hungary and abroad, at concerts and opera performances. She prepares reconstructions of early dances and choreographies for her ensemble. Moreover, she often teaches at universities, colleges and international courses, including, since 1991, the Sopron Early Music Days.