since 2000
From the very beginning of my long-standing romance with Tradition, the encounter has been at the center of my interests. Observing, learning, and finally practicing dance, singing, and making music together, I slowly realized how important these forgotten forms of social communication are for humans. The natural consequence was to create a place (symbolically) where we could converse again using this non-verbal language – and so, at the turn of the millennium, the Poznań Dance House was born.
Over the years of activity, a multitude of threads, ideas, concepts, and fascinations have intertwined here. The most important of them eventually began to shape the main directions of our activities, placing the social function of music and dance at the foundation. Hence, archaic chain dances, borrowed from our southern neighbors, treated on par with the Vivat, Oberek, Polka, and dance games, have always constituted a unique rhythm of Poznań dance parties. Hence, ritual songs, beggars’ ballads, but also bawdy and merry ditties and drinking calls have always constituted a unique rhythm of singing gatherings.
I thank everyone who co-created the Poznań Dance House with me in the past, and the subsequent generations who are now its captain, ship, and rudder (because we still don’t have a physical place;)
Jacek Hałas / President
In the old days, there was music, dances, and songs resounding in villages during numerous holidays and rituals. Later came the radio, the gramophone, the tape recorder, and television, and traditional, handmade music began to fall silent. The lasting familiarity with music, present for centuries in rural customs, as well as its communal performance and reception, slowly began to disappear from social life. Along with the old instruments, the lyrics of songs, rhythms, and dance steps, which contained the wealth of thoughts, feelings, and imagination of rural people, passed away. The language with which communities communicated non-verbally, on the level of emotion and art, departed. in exchange, the phonographic industry proposed various currents of popular music and devices offering sets of ready-made rhythms, leaving a void difficult to fill after the disintegration of old community bonds. The time for searching had come.
The idea of rural “dance houses” was introduced to cities by Hungarian counter-culture activists as early as the 1960s. Since then, “Táncház” have been functioning great in Hungary, inspiring similar endeavors in Poland. In 1995, the first Dance House was established in Warsaw, another in Krakow, and in 2000 in Poznań.
The creator of the idea and the driving force behind the Poznań Dance House was Jacek Hałas – accordionist, hurdy-gurdy player, singer, co-founder, and participant of many artistic ensembles referring to tradition in their work. The organizer of meetings, concerts, and seminars in the years 2001-2003 was the Czas Kultury Association, and since 2004 it has been the “Dom Tańca. Poznań” Association. The basic current of activity is related to the chain dance – the most archaic form of celebrating the rite of meeting. The other pole of the Poznań Dance House practices are Polish folk dances: the dignified Kujawiak, Mazurka, sliding Polka, ancient Kontro, mystical Oberek. The cycle of meetings fits into the folk calendar of traditional holidays and rituals, and each meeting is a combination of a thematic workshop, concert, and party, sometimes seasoned with an exhibition or culinary delights. Particular attention is paid to disappearing instruments, such as bagpipes, dulcimer, pedal accordion, bass, hurdy-gurdy, but also the art of storytelling and having fun together.
Gathered around the Poznań Dance House are musicians exploring the most interesting and archaic forms of dance and traditional music, instruments, and performance practices.
Ethno-cardioversion 27.04.2007
Some heart rhythm disorders can only be interrupted by high voltage, which flows through the heart in the form of a short impulse. This procedure is called electrical cardioversion. Observing with growing anxiety the arrhythmia, or even the disappearance of the positive impact of the Dance House on the residents of the city of Poznań, we decided to remedy this using an old, sensational method – Ethno-cardioversion. The procedure will be performed by a select group of Poznań traditionalists with fast fingers and flexible legs: Nomads of Culture – Jacek and Alicja Hałas, Duo – Michał Żak, Marcin Szyszkowski , Charivari – Barbara Wilińska, Zofia Janiczek, Xenia Starzyńska, ethno-jazz master Maciej Filipczuk and Breton dance master Tomasz Kowalczyk. The evening program includes Csango dances from Bukovina, Balkan and Breton chain dances, Polish obereks, polkas, and figure dances. Electrodes will be applied on 27.04.2007, 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM at the Wielkopolska Zagroda restaurant (ul. Fredry 12, Poznań), where one can also stock up on local anesthesia. Tickets: 10 PLN
Catalan Spinning Top 25.02.2011
Just as when the Oberek, Vivat, or Sîrba were not supposed to be, yet were, so it is again.
For does the bard not prophesy this? And does the Phoenix not rise again?
Five hundred years have not passed, and yet here we are.
To tread step by step or suddenly leap after leap.
Or not – to whirl, to spin like a Catalan top, to close one’s eyes.
To free laughter, delight, and tears of emotion from the sweat of the brow and black despair.
The unbearable lightness of being from the burden of everyday life (President)
To the joy of fans and the spite of doubters, we invite you to another meeting of the Poznań Dance House on 25.02.2011 /Friday/ from 6:00 PM – 11:00 PM. This time we are testing a new, comprehensive service:) which will include dance workshops, a dance party, and refreshments.
Workshops: 6:00-6:30 PM – whirling /oberek, polka/ 6:30-7:00 PM – Basque dances /led by guests/ 9:00-9:30 PM – Wielkopolska dances
Headquarters of the Strefa Ciszy Theatre /Barak 1/ ul. Grunwaldzka 55, Poznań
May Date. 14.05.2007 / Special offer for lovers
The traditional matrimonial agency “Poznań Dance House” invites you to a May date! We were created to find the most suitable partner for you, so that you may share time together happily and in harmony. Since we know how seriously you treat your expectations, we approach our work professionally, relying not only on experience and intuition but primarily on specialized knowledge in the field of dances, revelries, and frolics. We make every effort to ensure that your meeting is just the beginning of what is most beautiful. Therefore, we match valuable people who are attractive to each other not only at the moment of meeting. Let the musical couples playing for the dance this evening, who remain in happy, long-term relationships, be the best example for you:
Couple de fraca (the Przeźmierowo duo of our bureau’s president and the drummer) – Jacek & Alicja Hałas
Couple de Sonneurs (traditional Breton duo of bagpiper and bombard player) – Piotr Lasko/ Michał Żak
Couple dedudors (Wielkopolska duo of a bagpiper and a tied-violin player) – Roman Jędraszak/Tomasz Kiciński
Couple de Hegeduess (Klezmer duo Ruach) – Dorothea & Bogusław Hegeduess
Couple de Charivari (traditional female triangle) – Barbara Wilińska, Zofia Janiczek, Xenia Starzyńska
Couple de Glina (happy relationship of undetermined status) – Maciej Filipczuk & CO
The evening program includes Csango dances from Bukovina, Balkan and Breton chain dances, Polish obereks, polkas, and figure dances. Introductory evening 14.05.2007, 7:00 PM – 12:00 AM at the Wielkopolska Zagroda restaurant (ul. Fredry 12, Poznań), where you can also stock up on local aphrodisiacs.
The Ball. 9.01.2013
With the New Year we draw near,
Wishing you luck and health this year,
And to the dance we invite you all.
The Crystal Structure we shall call
To practice, but beside this task
To the demands of the Carnival mask
We must rise. So in Jan we don’t rest.
On the ninth – put to the test
Two thousand and thirteen
On Wednesday – the Lord’s year seen
With a Costume Ball, grand and bright
We start our dances on this night.
Let the masqueraders advance
To Grunwaldzka street in Poznań’s expanse.
The Stage (called “Robocza” – Work)
Will change beyond recognition, look!
When crowds enter, bright and gay.
One shows bare calves in the fray
Another shows more than just shins,
For a paper bag is where her dress begins.
No matter. Just bring a “sincere heart”
And fifteen zlotys to take part.
