Cossacks, or punished deception

Cossacks, or punished deception, a  ballet performance composed by Antoni Hart, had its premiere at the National Theatre in Warsaw on 11th November 1784, has been reconstructed by the Krakow ensemble both choreographically and musically after more than 200 years of oblivion. In 1784, the choreography for Hart's ballet was prepared by Daniel Kurtz, an Alsatian by origin, who was the first dancer and ballet master of the National Theatre in Warsaw and  staged as many as 84 choreographies between 1776 and 1795. He contributed greatly to the development of ballet and theatre art in Poland, as many of his dance arrangements are based on Polish themes. He was also a promoter of Jean-Georges Noverre's ballet reform and introduced his ideas to ballets staged in Warsaw. Today, Daniel Kurtz, considered as  one of the fathers of Polish ballet, unfortunately remains unknown for broader public. Therefore, it is worth recalling his achievements. Leszek Rembowski, choreographer and dancer, an excellent connoisseur of Polish and distinctive dances, took a creative approach to Kurtz's achievements and choreography for the premiere of Cracovia Danza. His historical research, conducted in consultation with Tomasz Nowak, Ph.D., and the final recreation of the dances of that period have a chance to become a significant event, because it is a little-known topic, still awaiting specialists’ study. The spectacle shows traditional Polish dances such as chodzony, oberek, polonez or, above all, kozak, which was considered to be Polish national dance in the past, and now has almost fallen into oblivion. There are also dances that were performed in Poland of that time, such as chaconne, minuet, musette or hongarese (the last one originally from Hungary). The score of Antoni Hart's ballet has got lost, but a piano extract has been preserved to the present day. It shows the beauty of the music as well as the richness of the dances presented in the performance. Ballet Cracovia Danza ordered, especially for the occasion, the reconstruction of a score and entrusted it to Maciej Prochaska, a musicologist from Poznań. ***