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NAME OF NEWSLETTER??
Our first Newsletter! |
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NAME OF NEWSLETTER??
Our first Newsletter! |
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ARTISTIC NEWS
continued... The festivities won’t end there, as Polanie has also just been invited to perform at the Kimberly Folk Festival over the September long weekend! The senior ensemble will, once again, hop aboard oversized vans to travel, this time westward into BC, where we’re looking forward to entertaining the Kimberly Folk Festival crowds. In terms of repertoire, since January the senior ensemble has perfected Zywiec Goralski, the newly taught highlander dance by renowned choreographer, Nina Wojturska from Rzeszow, Poland. The dancers have also been measured for new costumes, which have been ordered from Poland. We await the new gear with anticipation as it will add the final touches to this vibrant dance. Additionally, the ensemble is currently working on renewing and perfecting Poland’s majestic national dance, the Mazur, to a much faster version of Stanislaw Moniuszko’s famous composition for the opera “Straszny Dwor,” translated as “The Haunted Manor.” This is proving to be quite a challenge, as it is one of the most difficult Polish dances to truly embody, but the finished product will definitely be worthy of an audience. Interestingly, the senior ensemble is also reworking an older repertoire piece, the Nowy Sacz regional dance, with a new humorous and theatrical spin to the choreography, which will make the dance much more original, engaging, and accessible to a wider audience. Patti Czerski, dance instructor and Artistic Director, has also begun work-shopping movements and scenes for the senior ensemble, for our planned surprise show in the early weeks of winter, 2008. This show will be an exploration of Polish identity, of the ideas, questions and emotions that surround our notions of a ‘home’. Moreover, this show will go beyond Polish folk dance as we are accustomed to seeing it; it will cross boundaries with contemporary dance as well as visual art and mediums. Planned guest artists and choreographers will allow Polanie to branch out, and unite with a wider professional Calgary artistic community and audience. Polanie Jr. has also been busy working on completing the newly choreographed Lublin Suite, created by Patti Czerski. The last part of this suite is the difficult Oberek dance, which will be the finishing touch to the choreography, just as soon as the dancers are technically ready for it. The young dancers have also just learned the Lvov Town Polka- a staple, fun and flirty repertoire piece that continues to entertain audiences time and time again. Next on the agenda is learning the dances and songs of the Zielone Kurpie region of Poland. Original music for these brand new dances has been ordered from Poland, and as soon as it arrives, Patti Czerski will create and teach this vibrant suite of dances to Polanie Jr. Meanwhile, at the beginning of January our youngest ensemble, Krakusy, finished learning new choreography for the national dance, Krakowiak, choreographed by Assistant Director, Katarzyna Stevens. This dance was set to brand new music, a piece called “Znad Wisly,” composed by A. Wronski, and recorded by the Polska Kapela Ludowa Feliksa Dzierzanowskiego. Currently, Krakusy is working on cleaning and perfecting the dance steps and forms of dances learned in the fall: the Goral Podhalanski (highlander dance) and the national Polonaise. Additionally, the ensemble has begun learning songs and steps to dances from the Slask region of Poland. This dance will also require new costume pieces for the group, which will be ordered or sewn by our talented Costume Director, Dorota Wegrzynska. As all the above mentioned news indicates, the artistic aim for this season and next, is to not only expand the repertoire of our ensembles, but also to revive and update selected dances that have not been performed in the last few years. Furthermore, we aim to challenge the dancers to go beyond their comfort level and explore a wider variety of movement as well as to expand their presentation skills on the stage. This year, we have slowly started to remove any verbal playback from our recordings in order to incorporate our own voices into the dances, and in turn, make the Polish folk experience more genuine. Traditionally, Polish folk dances started spontaneously with a male leader shouting to the capella the tune he wanted to dance to, after which he’d pick a female partner and begin dancing (or showing off!), thereby inviting any remaining pairs to dance. By removing verbal playback we achieve that kind of spontaneity within the rehearsed choreographies. Lastly, this month Patti Czerski has begun teaching her original choreography to a new Kujawiak & Oberek dance for the senior ensemble. Both these dances are one of the five national dances of Poland (the others being the Polonaise, Krakowiak, and Mazur), and are very often danced back-to-back and incorporated into one single piece. The Kujawiak is a slow and lingering dance, difficult to convey as it requires a high level of emotional responsiveness as well as physical grace and strength. It is followed by the fast and invigorating Oberek, providing a fantastic visual and auditory contrast. |
HIGHLIGHTS... CELEBRATING the 30th ANNIVERSARY OF POLANIE and 5th ANNIVERSARY OF KRAKUSY: This coming June 'Polanie Polish Song & Dance Association' is organizing a show celebrating the 30th anniversary of Polanie as well as the 5th anniversary of Krakusy. This show will feature repertoire from all three of our dance ensembles as well as guest performances by 'Polonia Polish Folk Dance Ensemble of Regina, Canada.' These performances will be at the Playhouse theatre just below the Calgary tower at 161, 115 9th Ave. S. E. on June 15 and 16 at 7:30 pm. Tickets can be purchased at the Playhouse theatre ticket centre ((403)221-3708). We hope to see you then!
At the beginning of June
the senior group of Polanie is going on a trip to Regina in Saskatchewan for
the
Regina Mosaic Festival,
in which Polanie will perform for the first time ever. Our hosts, the
Polonia Polish Folk Dance Ensemble of Regina
have invited us to share in their celebrations. We look forward to
showcasing our repertoire to a brand new audience as well as to build
contacts with Polonia. In fact, as mentioned above, we are
participating in an exchage with Polonia as they are coming to Calgary for
our 30th anniversary two weeks later.
We have encountered some difficulty in coming up with a name for our NEWSLETTER! Therefore we are asking YOU for help! We ask YOU to offer suggestions by e-mailing Kasia at km.stevens@shaw.ca. By providing a suggestion your name is automatically put in a draw to win a prize!! Keep in mind... this name will make a long lasting impression as it will be used for our newsletter for many years to come!
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“The way you practice is the way you perform!” I’ve had many students disagree with this, but I believe it is true. By putting in 100% effort at practice you are guaranteed to do well at performances because your body has memorized the motion. In a situation of stress where lights are glaring in your eyes, people are talking, babies are crying, where there is loud music, vibrant colors…well you get the idea… the last thing you want to be thinking about is how do I do that step again? Where do I go? Is this turn right or left? You want to concentrate on form, presentation, stage presence, lines, spacing, etc. At this point the basics and the steps should be second nature and programmed into your subconscious. So make sure that you are fully engaged at practices and that your heart and mind are in tune with what is going on, otherwise why come? In ‘Polanie’ most of the groups do not get enough practice time, due to limited space availability as well as a limited number of instructors. Hence, it is your responsibility as a dancer to practice on your own. Even if you take 5 minutes to think through what you learned in class when you get home, it makes a big difference in retention for the following week’s lesson. Or just make a mental list of things you need to work on during next class. This will help focus your attention to problem areas and will decrease the number of times the instructor has to call attention to these, allowing this individual to focus on new areas. Lastly, attend some dances or take some informal dance classes, if you don’t already, that is where you can have fun socially and expand on your skills. In such an atmosphere know one cares if you mess up, that's why everyone else is there too, to have fun and to get some extra practice!! Learning Proper dance technique The dreaded warm-up! Yes, the issue of why we warm-up or why we need to learn proper dance technique comes up almost at every practice for all the ensembles. It comes down to the fact that proper dance technique, acquired through warm-up exercises, provides the dancer with the basic fundamentals necessary to dance. If you’re not using the correct foot positions for example, or the proper posture it causes balance problems as well as problems in interaction between partners. In most cases when a move doesn't work it is because of an incorrect body position or some other dance technique problem or a misunderstanding. I think that some people confuse technique with showmanship or frivolity that is not necessary in polish dancing because it isn’t ballet for example. Well, that’s completely false! All dance forms share the basic fundamentals, which must be acquired by each dancer. Additionally, knowing proper technique makes you more enjoyable to dance with whether you are a leader or a follower in couples' dances. Good technique makes a dancer look graceful, polished and natural... almost as if the steps are effortless. Assessment is to make things better The ultimate purpose of assessment or constructive criticism is to make things better. In many cases it may be misinterpreted as a personal attack or ‘picking on.’ At times such feelings are unavoidable, but they are unnecessary because in a teaching environment there is no room for callousness. Any comments addressed to a group or individual are aimed at improving technique or performance. It may be difficult to understand at times, but the only thing we can do is simply try our best. Assessment drives both learning and teaching, hence if the form of feedback used does not hit home the teacher will be forced to adjust or revise how they approached the situation. This will only happen if the response to the feedback is not emotionally driven, meaning that you shouldn’t withdraw from the exercise or respond with a negative attitude, just hang in there, try your best, you’ll get it eventually. No one gets anything on the first attempt! Trust me! I know from my own experience. Always consult your physician after any serious injury or injury that causes chronic or extreme pain.For sore joints, ice massage works best. Apply ice to sore spot for a few minutes at a time, removing it periodically. It may help if you alternate between cold and hot if you have a heating pack. Ideally, when you come home from class or performance with a sore knee, get in a warm bath, take an ice-pack and rub it on your knee for a few minutes, then lower your knee into the bath for a few minutes (repeat). For all-over general aching, take a long hot bath after exercise and for further effect add: 1. 1lb. of Epsom Salts, Baking Soda and Sea Salt to water (3lbs. total) to your bath.
2.
Rosemary/Sage/Thyme in equal
parts wrapped in a cloth-like tea bag.
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