THE WEDDING AT OJCÓW

The Wedding at Ojców to the music of Karol Kurpiński and Józef Damse is referred to as the first Polish national ballet. The Cracovia Danza Court Ballet is returning the work to the audience after several decades of oblivion. Rendered in dance, the story of a wedding held at Ojców, a village near Krakow, was first performed at the National Theatre in Warsaw in 1823, becoming a manifestation of the Polish identity. The performance proved to be a showstopper - it was presented on the Warsaw stage over 400 times in the 19th century. The popularity of 'The Wedding at Ojców' was so huge that dances from the performance found their way into high society’s salons and ballrooms. Thanks to the ballet, which was also staged abroad, the Polish dances conquered Russia, still in the 19th century, and in the inter-war period it was performed in New York City and on the French Riviera, amongst other locales. After the war, Polish theatres would reach for the title a few times, while post 1989 it was staged only by the Mazowsze folk group. Several presentations of the ballet music have also been held in their concert versions. In Cracovia Danza’s performance the grand mazurs, cracoviennes, polkas and marches are performed in all their scenic glory. Leszek Rembowski’s choreographies are based on archival records of Polish dances. An especially important element of the performance consists in the music - the original ballet music performed by an orchestra* and the traditional songs accompanying the wedding ceremony performed by Magdalena Wieczorek-Duchewicz in an archaic singing technique.