dances that have spread throughout the Poland. They have special features of each region. Polish national dances

Krakowiak The Krakowiak is a fast, syncopated Polish dance in duple time from the region of Cracov. This dance is known as imitat ion of horses. T he steps mimic their movement, horses were appriciated in Cracow for their civilian as well as military use. Krakowiak becames a popular ballroom dance in Vienna ("Krakauer") and Paris ("Cracovienne“).

national costume for dancing krakowiak

Polonaise The polonaise (Polish: polonez) is a dance of Polish origin, in 3/4 time. Its name is French for "Polish." The polonaise ha s a rhythm quite close to that of the Swedish semiquaver and th ose two dances have a common origin. Polonaise is always a first dance at a studniówka (the Polish equivalent of the senior prom that occurs approximately 100 days before exams.)

national costume for dancing polonaise

Mazurka The mazurka (in Polish, mazurek) is a Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, and with accent on the second or third beat. The mazurek is always found to have either a triplet, trill, dotted eighth note (quaver) pair, or an ordinary eighth note pair before two quarter notes (crotchets). In the 19th century, the dance became popular in many ballrooms in different parts of Europe

national costume for dancing mazurka

Oberek The oberek, also called obertas or ober, is a lively Polish dance. The name "Oberek" is derived from "obracać się" which in Polish means "to spin". This dance consists of many lifts and jumps. It is performed at a much quicker pace than the Polish waltz and is one of the national dances of Poland. The beauty of the oberek depends on each individual dancer's talent of spinning at the fast tempo. Oberek shares some steps with the Mazur.

national costume for dancing oberek

Kujawiak The Kujawiak is a dance from the region of Kujawy in central Poland. It is one of the five national dances of Poland. The music is in triple meter and fairly slow. The dance usually involves couples walking gracefully in a quarter-note rhythm, on slightly bended knees, with peaceful spins and gently sways. Women's Kujawiak dances are also performed.

national costume for dancing kujawiak

is a mixture of many dances: for example jazz dance and even some of the ballroom dances. Choreography can also contain bits of acrobatic moves. Although the origin comes from classical dance known as ballet. Modern dance

made by Stanislaw August Poniatowski, first ballet group operated in his manor. Group started to function in Warsaw in 1818, its golden times were from 1837 till Polish Ballet

Polish ballet from the Great Theater

roots of this dance reach to end of 19th century, back then, African slaves started to create bases of nowadays jazz. Theatres were dominated by ballet, leaving other kinds of dance with no chances to develop. It turned out that people accepted this new genre of dance with a lot of enchantment which enabled them to a lot more of freedom of movement as well as improvisation. Jazz dance

As time passed dance widen up its popularity and it evolved making new branches. In Poland, jazz dance gained its appreciation through television programmes like ‘You can dance’.

Polish edition ‘You Can Dance’

Currently popular dances in Poland

Street culture and music genre made in Afro American communities in New York City in the 70's of 20th century. DJ Afrika Bombaataa was responsible for bringing four main bases of hip hop which include rapping, Djing, b-boying and street art(graffiti). Part of hip hop community adds fifth base - knowledge, since it's lack activate fake, stereotypical view of this culture. Another very important element is beatboxing. Hip HOP

In Poland more and more people start to dance to this style and enjoy the freedom of movements. Hip Hop become popular through television programmes, films and books.

Young polish dancers of Hip- Hop

Zumba- dance for young and old