We stayed with the Polish Priests at Narrabundah. When we arrived, we found our rooms and unpacked. We had a practice in the car park to finalise our big finale and then dressed into our costumes, and headed to the venue, Garema Place in the centre of town. After fighting our way through the crowds, we waited anxiously at the side of the stage watching the other groups before us.

Upon being announced, we walked onto the stage, with our “Happy Faces” on. We performed four dances - Poleczka Warszawska by the Middle Group, Krakowski Duet performed by Natalia Kawa and Robert Mitas, Tance Nowo Sadeckie by the Senior Group and a combined Krakowiak Finale. We all did our best! Everyone enjoyed the Krakowiak Finale. Its just a great feeling when things go well!

Back at the accommodation we “kicked off our shoes” and relaxed. Now we could have fun! We watched TV, played card games, pigged out on lollies and junk food, and we waited for our dinner, pizza, YUM! We had a great time and we didn’t want it to end.

The next morning, after breakfast, we went to church. The priest was happy to see lots of young people at the church, and welcomed us very sincerely. Our parents had looks of pride on their faces.

After Church we packed our bags and everyone did something different! My parents took me and my brother to Questacom. We learnt a lot of new things and had more fun! After that, it was back to Sydney, and time to prepare for school the next day.

We had a great time and hopefully Lajkonik goes again next year! Our Lajkonik trips bring everyone closer together.

Jessica Manché

Lajkonik Senior group joined forces with Lajkonik middle group to wow audience at the 2008 Canberra Multicultural Festival.

On Saturday, 9 February 2008, Lajkonik was once again on the road to the Canberra Multicultural Festival. Only this year, 6 senior couples joined with middle couples to perform a Krakowiak grand finale.

Once again, the Polish priests belonging to the Society of Christ, kindly offered us their accommodation which forms part of a beautiful church. We would like to thank the priests for their hospitality and kindness and making our trip to Canberra more enjoyable. We are very grateful that we had a place to stay for the weekend.

Our Middle Group had decided to make a weekend of this trip and so they travelled on the Friday to Canberra so that they would have a chance to relax and have fun before switching on their minds for the performance which was waiting for them. They were then joined by Lajkonik seniors who made their way to Canberra on Saturday afternoon.

Lajkonik Middle Group greeted the Seniors with eager and happy faces, just after 4pm. They were looking forward to having us perform with them. There was no time to relax and settle in as our Artistic Director, Ursula Lang, called us for a rehearsal in the car park. This was unavoidable as we had to piece together our big Krakowiak finale which had been taught to the groups separately due to time restraints. This was the first time that we had an opportunity to join with the younger group in an effort to make this finale as big as possible. Despite the hot Canberra sun beaming down upon us, replacing injured dancers and the concrete “dance floor”, we managed to put the finale together with much satisfaction. It was then time to hop into costume and back into cars to the city square where all the festivities were taking place. Along the way we had heard that there is a huge crowd watching the evening performances, which only gave us a lift and the determination to put on the best show possible.

The performance went off without a hitch. The audience loved all our dances, and we got strong applause for our joint Krakowiak finale. All dancers came off stage with bright happy faces and with the knowledge that we had done a great performance.

One of our senior dancers Jessica Manche even stepped into the Poleczka as the Middle Group was one girl short. This only meant that she had 3 minutes to change from that costume and into a completely different one and be back on the stage ready to come on again. This was only made possible by some pre-planning with her costume and team work which is always needed when it comes to costume changes, and quick ones at that.

After the performance, the time came when we could finally relax. Some of us stayed in the city to enjoy other performances or to look around the various stalls, or to have a bite to eat. The rest of us went back to our accommodation where we enjoyed pizza and Polish doughnuts for dinner.

Still satisfied with Saturday’s performance we woke up early to a continental breakfast which our parents had kindly prepared for us. This was followed by a mass at 11am in which some members had been asked to carry out readings and participate in the offertory procession.

We were then free to do what we pleased, whether it was to stay in Canberra to enjoy the sights or to visit other places on our way home.

Overall, it was another successful weekend for Lajkonik.

Special thanks go to our parents for taking us to Canberra, for preparing/organizing food and cleaning up and for supporting us. Also thank you to our Artistic Director Ursula Lang for preparing us for the performance, it would not have happened without you.

Joasia Krol