| This coming Sunday, 14th December, the Ensemble is holding its End of Year Luncheon and Concert at the White Eagle Hall in Cabramatta, commencing at 1pm. We would like to sincerely invite everyone to come along and to bring their children as Santa Claus will be visiting! Tickets are $15 per adult and $6 per child and may be purchased at the door. * * * On Saturday 22nd November, Polish Folklore Ensemble celebrated its 5 year anniversary in the formal setting of a ball, held at the Mounties Club in Mount Pritchard. To commence proceedings, the entire Ensemble performed a Grande Polonaise, which involved the participation of their parents and family members. Immediately following the Polonaise, the Senior Group performed with grace and dignity a beautiful Waltz to the music of Shostakovich’s ‘Second Waltz’.[/b]
After service of Entrée, the Ensemble returned to the dance floor to present traditional dances of the region from which it took its name “Podhale”.
The Junior Group premiered a suite of dances from the Szczawnica Highlands, which included a selection of polka’s and waltzes as well as the ‘Madziar’ and ‘Zbojnicki’ during which the boys displayed various floor work and tricks with wooden ‘ciupagi’. Our two youngest performers are little: Sebastian nearly three years old, loves dancing and is amazing, and our newest member, little Emilia, three and half years old, her parents being foundation members with dancing experience of over twenty years.
The Senior Group followed with dances from the Podhale Highlands, commencing with a traditional dance of one couple, followed by the delicate ‘ozwodny’ dance by the girls and culminating in a display of intricate foot work of the men and clever tricks with their ‘ciupagi’.
A couple of photo’s of the entire group, followed by a couple more with ex-members and parents and then it was time to cut the beautiful celebratory cake.
Mains were served next, followed by speeches. The Ensemble was honoured by the attendance and inspirational speeches of the Polish Vice-Consulate Mrs Dorota Preda and President of the Cabramatta Polish Association Mrs Krystyna Cyron and Ks. Krzysztof Chwalek. The Ensemble was also very grateful for the lovely flowers kind words of congratulations received from Mrs Jolanta Zurawski and Mrs Teresa Wroblewski, the respective Presidents of Ensembles Kujawy and Syrenka.
Last but not least, a very appreciative Ensemble presented gifts and flowers to our talented choreographer and teachers Basia and Daniel Gadd. You are both hardworking and dedicated in passing on our beautiful Polish culture.
Before a night of dancing to the music of Zakon Band, a short documentary about the Ensemble was presented on the large screens, which will be available for public viewing from our facebook page very soon!
Dessert was served, cake was served, the big raffle was drawn and before we knew, the night was over.
We would like to thank all the wonderful guests, the parents and friends of Podhale for sharing this memorable occasion with us. A very big thank you to all the members and parents who contributed to the success of the evening.
Without the support of also our sponsors, we would not be where we are today, so thank you to the Polish Association in Cabramatta, The Polish Consulate in Sydney, the SPK Foundation, The Blum foundation, Steric Pty Ltd (makers of Staminade) Bright Print Group and J&S Prime Choice Motors.
A special mention to Norrie Photography for the beautiful photos featuring in our calendar and photos of the Ball which can be viewed on Podhale’s Facebook page.
Our thanks are also extended to Puls Polonii for kindly publishing our articles.
Podhale 2015 Calendar
Since the start of the year, the Ensemble has also been working very hard to produce a Calendar as a fundraising drive ahead of Polart 2015. The months are written in English and Polish, and was available for purchase at the Ball (thank you to everyone who has purchased the Calendar). It will be available for purchase at our End of Year Concert. We would also like to invite anyone who would like to support this initiative to contact us for a copy.
With Christmas fast approaching, Podhale would like to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2015.
Z okazji nadchodzacych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia, skladamy wszystkim, najserdeczniejsze zyczenia, oraz szczesliwego Nowego Roku 2015.
Lyn Iglinski
On behalf of Podhale Committee
Photos Henry Iglinski
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