The first beginnings of the ballet - at the Hetman’ Lady Opera House

The performance, choreographed by Romana Agnel and Dariusz Brojek, takes the audience on a journey to the Branicki Palace in 18th-century Bialystok, where the art of ballet flourished. There was a ballet school established in the residence of Izabela and Jan Klemens Branicki and there was also a ballet company at the court theatre. The dancers, including Maciej Pręczyński, who is considered to be the first professional Polish dancer, were trained by the dance master Antonio Puttini in Białystok. Izabela Branicka, the wife of a castellan of Krakow, supervised the appropriate planning of the ballet and music repertoire in the court theatre, i.e. the newly established so-called opera house. The Branicki residence soon became one of the most important ballet centres in Poland. It also had a great influence on the Polish ballet established by Polish King Stanisław August as they trained Polish dancers for the royal company there. The First Beginnings of the Ballet - at the Hetman’ Lady Opera House performance not only shows how the first Polish ballet schools and companies were established, but also reveals the secrets of the education, the methods used and the mastery of the teachers of that time. We can see original choreographies of European ballet from the first half of the 18th century (by the French choreographer Louis Pecourt) and a careful selection of music and dances. Therefore, it presents repertoire which could have been performed in the Branicki opera house. The story of the ballet's beginnings is filled with dances such as, among others, minuet, allemande, courante, sarabande, gigue, gavotte or la folias well as music of popular composers of that time, including Corelli, Boccherini or Lully. The well-known Polonaise in G major by Maciej Radziwiłł or fragments of André Campra's ballet L'Europe Galante (Exquisite Europe), which were very famous at the time, are also part of the performance. ***

The 18th century was a very important period for the history of Polish ballet. Ballet performances patterned after the ones at courts in Dresden and Versailles, with the participation of Italian and French artists, were no longer an attractive offer for the cultural circles of the Republic of Poland. The first Polish professional ballet companies were established at the courts of magnates and at the royal court in Warsaw. It was connected with financing and creation of ballet schools where children from different social classes were admitted. One of the most important centres of this type was the Branicki Palace in Białystok. Our performance tells the story of establishing a school and a ballet company in the hetman’s opera house of Izabela Branicka. The students, who are trained by Antonio Puttini, a dance master, present themselves in a ballet performance which consists of the French dance repertoire of the time, written down in Feuillet notation system. The deeply significant patronage of Izabela and Klemens Branicki allowed for the creation of a ballet school educating native professional dancers and for the presentation of 18th-century ballet repertoire, including L'Europe galante by A. Campra. The First Beginnings of the Ballet - at the Hetman’ Lady Opera House is another production of the Cracovia Danza Ballet digging deeper into the history of Polish ballet and presenting its heritage based on reconstructions of original choreographies from the period. The performance also presents the image of the 18-century Polish court. It has been produced on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Izabela Branicka International Festival of Early Arts.

Romana Agnel