Mazowsze

Witold ZAPAŁA, Master of Choreography, Artist, Dancer and Teacher

Maestro Witold's career began by accident. His grandmother, Józefa Linek, had a beautiful voice and often sang at weddings, and she would take her little grandson with her. Young Witek liked country weddings, where he would listen to folk songs, and gaze at the colourful folk costumes of the happily dancing locals. It soon turned out that he had a talent for dance. As time went on, his love for dance and folklore developed.

Memories of his home town of Dziurów were with him all the time. He spent most of his time practising with a youth ensemble at the nearby culture centre. At 17, he made a decision that affected his whole personal and professional life, and opened the way to his career. He decided he wanted to dance.

The first step was the Skolimów Song and Dance Ensemble. He became a member in 1952, and was soon a successful soloist. Just three years later, he won first prize for folk dance at the Fifth Youth Festival in Warsaw.

In 1957, he graduated from the Ballet School in Warsaw, in the class of Leon Wójcikowski, after which he started work as a solo dancer at the Mazowsze State Folk Song and Dance Ensemble.

A turning point in Witold Zapała's life came when he became Mazowsze's choreographer and ballet master, and devoted himself completely to creative work.

He continued to dance and was a success – he won second prize for character dance at the Seventh Youth Festival in Vienna in 1959.

The following year marked the start of Maestro Zapała's greatest and most valuable creative work. He created Mazowsze's most beautiful choreographies in the late 1960's and early 1970's: "Chodzony 'Kołem, kołem'" (walking dance), "Łowicz Mazurka – Sanniki – Oberek" and the concert Finale, "Pranks and Dances from Podegrodzie", "Lublin Dances", "Little Krakowiak with Songs", "Mazurka to the Music of Stanisław Moniuszko", "Polonaise to the Music of Michał Kleofas Ogiński", "Mazurka from the Duchy of Warsaw to the Music of Karol Kurpiński", "Carnival in Wilamowice", "Jurgów Shepherds' Songs, Dances and Games", "Mazurka Polka" and others.

Witold Zapała withdrew from his stage career in 1981, and devoted himself exclusively to choreography and teaching. He began passing on his knowledge and experience to younger colleagues and artists, as Mazowsze's ballet director as well as its deputy artistic director.

His creativity also led him to work for amateur ensembles: Gawęda and Varsovia (he helped found the latter), for Polish and international competitions for dance ensembles – to mention Mielec, Łowicz and Rzeszów, for the Ballet Folk Dance Company in the Netherlands, the Polish American Dance Company in New York, the Podhale Ensemble in Los Angeles, and the Syrenka group in Sydney.

Witold Zapała's works designed for Mazowsze include choreographies for more than 30 dances (national and regional). These performances have been applauded all over the world for over 40 years. The beauty of Polish dances has been shown to the world thanks to the unique climate of a Mazowsze concert performance.

Today he is an outstanding artist, a man for whom dance is everything, his whole life and his great love. He now has a new passion, too – his grandchildren. Will they follow in his footsteps? Maybe history will repeat itself…

(www.mazowsze.bmb.pl/eng/zapalaeng.html)

The Director of the "Mazowsze" Ensemble

The "Mazowsze" Song and Dance Ensemble is an artistic phenomenon on a world scale. It presents the charm of Polish folklore, beautiful songs, folk costumes and various dances every where. The "Mazowsze" has performed in almost every country of the five continents of the world. "Perhaps the only place we haven't been to is the Antarctic because it's very cold there," laughs the present director of the ensemble, Mr. Włodzimierz Sandecki.

We asked the founder of the "Mazowsze", a man who has dedicated all of his working years to Polish culture, what the situation of "Mazowsze" is at present and who listens to it. We should add that Sandecki at first was active in students artistic movements, later he was director of the popular artist agency "Pagart", then the assistant director of Warsaw's Great Theatre. Thus, he is the right man in the right place. We sat down to have a conversation in his office, located in the headquarters of the "Mazowsze" in a 100-year old palace in the locality of Karolin, outside Warsaw.

"Our "Mazowsze" ensemble, after a few years when interest in it diminished in our country, now is again attracting the public, among them the very young. Everywhere it is received with standing ovations. I try to preserve all that is most valuable in the "Mazowsze" and that, which has increased its international fame, namely beautiful, original Polish folklore. I am keeping the tradition that served this ensemble best. Of course, times change very quickly and one has to adapt to them. At the moment, we have over 30 regions of Poland in our repertoire and we are working on others. In our ensemble, we have collected over 16 thousand costumes. Everything in the "Mazowsze" is original, even the materials that are used to sew the costumes.

For the new times, we have new initiatives. We want to organise in Karolin a branch of the European Home Association, which operates in many countries. There will be seminars, courses and sessions on the topic of folk culture, not only European after all. For example, in Japan dozens of centres of folk dance operate under the name "Wisła". A group of Japanese visited us here and we will organise for them a cycle of courses in Polish folk dances, which they are very interested in, just as they are in the music of the great Polish composer Frederic Chopin. (www.welcometo.home.pl/march_2003/introduce.html)