The 18th Cracovia Danza Court Dance Festival

The 18th Cracovia Danza Court Dance Festival will take place in Krakow between July 30th and August 6th. Held under the In the Far East title, this year’s edition will concentrate on Asia. As usual, the Festival will welcome an international circle of dancers who will take part in open-air performances, presentations and court dance workshops. The 2017 festival edition will explore the main theme of the fan, a prop which fulfilled a role of profound importance in dances and choreographies of different styles and periods.

For the first time in the history of the festival, Korean dancers of the Chum-Sarang Arts Academy will come to Krakow and perform alongside the Jeolla Samhyenyukak music group. Jang Tae Yun with her students will present court dances of old-time Korea to mark the opening of the festival at the Renaissance Villa Decius, and will also appear during the Dances of 1001 Nights spectacle held in the Main Market Square on Saturday, August 5th. In that same performance in the Main Square we will also see Alaknanda Bose, expert of the Indian Kathak dance and a special guest of the festival for many years, with her group Sanskriti. On the second night of the festival finale, August 6th, the Cracovia Danza Ballet will appear with their Dancing Fan show alongside guest artists invited to the performance.

This year’s festival programme has been designed to unfold like a dance map of Krakow. On the Finale weekend (August 5th-6th), a veritable feast, Fiesta di Danza, will be prepared for the audience in the Main Market Square. This is where you may see not only great international spectacles, dance presentations  brought together by the participants of the festival workshops, the performance given by this year’s holder of the resident ensemble title, but also participate in the grand Ball for the public (Saturday, August 5th). Also, the performance of the acclaimed Sbandieratori group of Ferrara who will present a mesmerising show of flag juggling, alongside the musicians of the Rione Santo Spirito district of Ferrara, is sure to become another highlight of the Festival. At the same time — all throughout the grand finale on Saturday and Sunday — some of the city’s historical places, situated right in the bustling heart of Krakow, will come alive thanks to dance. The Barbican will provide a setting for Travelling with Dance, dances At the Court and In the Palace will be held at the Bishop Erazm Ciołek Palace, and Collegium Maius — Jagiellonian University’s oldest building — will provide the backdrop for stories told with dance in The Study and Performance of Dance. Ages past will be conjured up through music, costumes, and, above all, the artistry of adept dancers, among them those of the Cracovia Danza Ballet and court dance masters: Barbara Segal, Marie-Claire Bär Le Corre and Gloria Giordano.

This year a distinction for young talented artists was awarded by Romana Agnel, the director of the festival, for the first time. The title of the resident ensemble and the opportunity to perform in front of a wide audience in the Main Market Square were offered to the “La Danza Antica” Music and Dance Ensemble from Lębork, laureate of this year’s “Schola Cantorum” Festival.

As every year, the festival is accompanied by 5-day long workshops, which this year will take place under the banner of “Krakow Dances”. Around 200 participants from Poland and abroad will take part in dance courses taught by dance masters from all over the world. The classes will be held in the building of the celebrated Bartlomiej Nowodworski High School No.1 situated near Plac Na Groblach square. The courses will be taught by Barbara Segal (English dance, Baroque dance), Marie-Claire Bär Le Corre (French dance, children’s workshops), Ana Yepes (Spanish dance), Gloria Giordano (Italian dance), Alaknanda Bose (Indian Kathak dance), Jang Tae Yun (Korean court dance) and Leszek Rembowski (early Polish dance). Acting workshops will also be featured in the programme. Classes devoted to the subject of commedia dell’arte will be given by Agnieszka Cianciara-Fröhlich and Jonathan Fröhlich, Poland’s only actors specialising in this theatre genre. Krzysztof Antkowiak, dancer of the Cracovia Danza Ballet, will reveal the ins and outs of the art of pantomime to his students. Each evening, for the duration of the festival week, you will also be able to see the teachers’ presentations held in the courtyard of the Bishop Erazm Ciolek Palace.

The only event of this kind in Poland, the Cracovia Danza Court Dance Festival is  also unique globally. Every summer in Krakow it brings together masters of historical dance and numerous ensembles specialising in early dances from all over the world. The initiator and the director of the festival is Romana Angel.

For detailed programme and workshop enrollment information go to www.cracoviadanza.pl/festiwal