Those wishing to take part in this unique dance happening are asked by the organizers to come to the Market Square on Friday, May 31, wearing white-and-red outfits.
Residents of Bolesławiec will dance the polonaise as part of the “Road to Freedom” ceremony – the 30th anniversary of the June 1989 elections. The program also includes the opening of the “Our Road to Freedom 1989–1990” exhibition. The ceremony will conclude with a concert by the State Music School Orchestra.
The polonaise is a Polish national dance, formerly known as a court dance. The name polonaise was borrowed from French – polonaise. Since the beginning of the 19th century, the polonaise has generally been regarded as the oldest national dance, whose form cultivated among the upper classes constituted a refined version of dances that had existed in Polish society for centuries. The polonaise is danced in the national epic poem “Pan Tadeusz” and is recognized as a dance associated with Polish culture, expressing the Sarmatian chivalric ethos and customary norms in social relations. Depending on the region of the country where it was danced, it appeared under various names, such as: “Polish dance,” “walking dance,” “on foot,” “wandering,” “slow,” “unhurried,” “round,” “ancient,” “old-fashioned,” “hop,” and even “goose,”
