On the 15th January, 4 Lajkonik dancers Abigail Latecka (Lajkonik President), Adam Brulinski (Lajkonik Secretary), Patryk Druc (Committee Member) and Angelika Druc, together with Artistic Director of Lajkonik Urszula Lang, fly to Krakow Poland where the four dancers will undertake Session 1 of a Polish Dance Instructor’s Course run by the School of Arts and Education in Krakow.
Abigail Latecka |
The 4 Polish-Australian students applied for the Course in September and were accepted, along with 32 aspiring young teachers and choreographers from Ensembles all over Poland.
This is the first time that a contingent from Australia has signed up to undertake such a Course, which involves 6 intensive week-long sessions over a two-year period, involving 620 hours of face-to-face instruction in both national and regional Polish dances, choreography, teaching techniques, dance history, folk music, musical appreciation, classical ballet basics and other dance styles. At the end of each session, students must pass an exam to progress to the next session.
Our first Session falls in the middle of the harsh Polish winter. Brrrrrr! It is very likely that Krakow temperatures will be mostly below zero, so we need to take our warmest clothes and lots of layers. Each day will involve 12 hours of dance workshops and theory sessions, with just one hour for lunch.
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After the Course, Lajkonik students will visit important and historical sites in Krakow such as the Krakow Square where General Tadeusz Kosciuszko took an oath to lead the army in revolt against the Russians Imperialists (Kosciuszko Uprising 1794), the Kosciuszko Mound and Museum, the Wawel Castle including Kosciuszko’s Crypt and the Crypts of Polish Kings, the Krakow Museum, and the Museum of the Krakow Politechnical University where original paintings by Kosciuszko are kept. We will then travel to Zakopane to experience and enjoy a Kulig (sleighride), ending in a bonfire with refreshments in the snow.
So far, our sincere thanks go to the Perspektywa Foundation in Poland,
the School of Arts and Education in Krakow,
Kosciuszko Heritage Incorporated,
our much beloved Polish Song and Dance Ensemble Lajkonik,
and people who so far have donated on our GoFundMe Page:
https://gofund.me/abea4d40
This is a very ambitious and costly project, but extremely important for the future of Lajkonik, with other benefits for the Polish Community as a pilot project for the future. We will be grateful to any person or organisation that shares our vision and makes a donation on our GoFundMe Page, to help us in this major challenge.
Link do SBS Polish Radio Podcast
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