ŚLĄSK:
In Pursuit of Spring

Marking the 70th birthday of the Śląsk Dance and Song Ensemble, In Pursuit of Spring brings together the company's best known and most spectacular numbers that helped the Śląsk Dance and Song Ensemble earn its name in Poland and around the globe. The two-part show puts a modern spin on traditional songs and dances. The majority of the pieces were composed by the company's founder, Stanisław Hadyna, but we will also hear music by Wojciech Kilar, Czesław Płaczek, and Ireneusz Łojewski. The show features choreographies by Elwira Kamińska, Juraj Kubánka, Hanna Chojnacka, Władysław Stefanik, and many more.

The programme includes the ensemble's hit choral songs Karolinka, Starzyk, Szła dzieweczka, Ondraszek, Głęboka studzienka, Gdybym to ja miała, Pije Kuba, Do Krakowa, a modernised version of Helokanie, and such traditional dances as Trojak, Taniec chustkowy, Harnaś i Zbójnicy, polonaise from the film Pan Tadeusz, Kujawiak – Oberek, Suita tanów rzeszowskich, and Krakowiak.

Anonymous authors of medieval songs comprising the Carmina Burana cantata were not Nazis, and neither was Richard Wagner. They were born too early for that. However, zeitgeist works in mysterious ways: Orff (just like Wagner) was a favoured artists among the Nazis, and his name found itself on the Gottbegnadeten-Liste ('God-gifted list' or 'Important Artist Exempt List'). The piece had its world premiere in 1937 and was not particularly appreciated by the critics, but by the Third Reich leaders – very much so. Currently it seems to enjoy popularity among heavy metal bands. Politics aside, music remains the most important thing, after all. Thanks to Boris Kudlička’s visualizations we are transported from a theatre building into space, ready to reach universal values at superluminal velocity. Worth taking the trip!