National Folk Song and Dance Ensemble Mazowszehttps://www.mazowsze.waw.pl/en/news/639,International-Dance-Day-with-Mazowsze.html2020-03-14, 11:47

InternationalDance DaywithMazowsze

In the beginning, there wasmovement . . . (KarimaMansour, in the message forInternational Dance Day2019)

On Saturday evening,Mazowsze’s headquarterswere filled with dance. Ourartists, as dancers,celebrated their special dayin the most fitting way.Together with their guests –students of the GeneralBallet School in Warsaw andthe participants of theworkshops “Dancing withMazowsze” – they gavea spectacular concert, whichwill be long remembered bythe audience.

The Performance Hall in

Otrębusy was full to thebrim. Everyone impatientlywaited to hear the firstmusical notes of theevening. In the audience,there were representativesof ballet schools from allover Poland, as well asrepresentatives of theInstitute of Music and Dance.There were also our ownballet instructors. ZbigniewKułagowski, the concert host,welcomed the guests,especially the legendaryMazowsze choreographer,Witold Zapała. He also readout the message forInternational Dance Day2019, which was written byKarima Mansour, an Egyptiandancer, choreographer, andinstructor. Then, the concertbegan with the overturemade up of TadeuszSygietyński’s compositions,prepared by Tadeusz Niećkoand presented by theensemble’s orchestra,conducted by Jacek Boniecki.After that, Mazowsze’sdancers appeared on thestage and greeted theaudience with the traditionalPolonaise and the Opocznooberek.

In the first part of theconcert, the audience couldsee two groups ofparticipants from the“Dancing with Mazowsze”workshops. The childrendanced Krakowiaczek, in theroutine prepared by ZofiaNowak. The adults presentedkujawiak with oberek, ina routine prepared by MarcinMierzejewski. It is alwaysa great joy to Mazowsze,seeing our students on thestage. Year by year, theymake greater progress andperfect their dancing skillsunder the supervision of ourinstructors. The audiencepresent at the concertappreciated our students’effort with thunderousapplause.

The suite “Dances andGames from Przeworsk,”with music prepared byKrystian Segda andchoreography authored byPiotr Zalipski, also attractedattention, and everybodyloved “Rondo a laKrakowiak,” with music byFrederic Chopin andchoreography by WitoldZapała. The “Rondo”

concluded the first part ofthe concert.

Barbara, a member of theaudience, who came fromWarsaw with a group offriends, was delighted withthe concert: “Amazingmusic, wonderful dances! It’sworth coming to Otrębusy toexperience that. It’sa beautiful place, with anamazing, modern hall. Wehad no idea that there’s sucha beautiful theater so closeto Warsaw. We’re eagerlylooking forward to thesecond part of the concert.”

The second part began withchoreographic routines byŁukasz Neter, presented bythe students of the RomanTurczynowicz General BalletSchool in Warsaw. Theyperformed “Polonaise” toBartosz Chajdecki’s music,“The Drill Time” withAleksander Tansman’smusic, and “The LastKujawiak” to the music ofWojciech Kilar.

Another surpriseperformance during theInternational Dance Dayconcert was the Old Polish

dance, with choreography byKlaudia Carlos, the DeputyDean of the Department ofChoir Conducting, MusicEducation, Church Music,Rhythmics and Dance at theFrederic Chopin University ofMusic in Warsaw. The danceroutine was presented byMazowsze’s ballet artists. Inthe course of the concert,they also presented severaldance suites, including“Orawa,” with WojciechKilar’s music and PiotrZalipski’s choreography. Itwas the piece’s premiereperformance.

The second part of theconcert was conducted notonly by director JacekBoniecki, but also byWojciech Gwiszcz amdKlemens Starybrat.

Every Mazowsze concertconcludes witha spectacular, energeticfinale, and so did the oneespecially prepared forInternational Dance Day2019. Presented over theyears, the finale hasn’t lostits attractiveness, and eachnew generation of theensemble’s performers puts

a lot of effort into making itsevery detail as precise ascan be. It was this wayduring the Saturday concertas well, especially with theauthor of the spectacularchoreography, WitoldZapała, sitting in theaudience. “It alwaysencourages us when theboss is watching us,” saidMazowsze’s artists after theconcert. “We are fullymotivated and everythingcomes out perfectly.”

Witold Zapała’s merit wasalso praised by director JacekBoniecki in his final speechafter the concert. “Thankyou for the beautifulchoreographies we admireda few moments ago, andwhich have been admired byaudiences for many years,”Jacek Boniecki said. “MasterZapała knows how mucheffort, tears, and sweat ittakes to be a dancer. It’sa short-lived career, but alsovery demanding on all theseyoung people. That is why,on the Dance Day, weexpress our thanks to alldancers, especially thosewho celebrate their jubilee

anniversaries this year.”

Wioletta Milczuk, the directorof Mazowsze’s ballet,awarded anniversarydiplomas to the artists:Paweł Kasprzak was awardeda diploma for ten years onstage, Milena Burchardt andNorbert Kurdziel for fifteenyears on stage, RobertLipiński for twenty-fiveyears, and MarcinMierzejewski and JarosławDąbrowski for thirty years.

“It was an amazing evening,”said audience membersleaving the performance hall.They promised to be back forMazowsze’s concerts tocome.

Katarzyna Pasieczna

Photography: PiotrPasieczny/FOTOBUENO

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