About Bychlewianka group
Moja pasja – papierowe cuda
The Folk Song and Dance Group Bychlewianka was established in 1974. This happened thanks to the efforts of the group of Rural Women Organization in Bychlew.
The group started rehearsing regularly with professional instructors: Tadeusz Ziolkowski-music instructor and Wiktor Dębiński – dance instructor. At the beginning the group consisted of the young people from the village Bychlew and later other people from Pabianice joined it. The group begins to perform in the Municipality of Pabianice, in Lodz and in Warsaw.
In 1980 Zdzisława Kotulska Hofmokl started to work as a choreographer of the group. She is an author of such performances as: Lowicz Wedding, Suite of Dances of Opoczno region, Dances of Cracow region, Dances of Sieradz region, Dances of Zywiec City-dwellers and Highlanders, Oberek (Polish folk dance), Mazurek (Polish folk dance), Kujawiak (Polish folk dance), Polonaise and many ritual performances. At that time the original regional costumes were purchased.
In 1981 the group passed the verification of CIOFF committee. It indicates the high professional skills of the instructors and members of the group. It is also the ticket to the participation in many international folk festivals in Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Yugoslavia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Portugal and others.
A student of Lodz Film School shot a documentary movie entitled GLOBTROTERKA about our group and one of its founders – Józefa Pluta. The author of the movie is a student from Yugoslavia.
The team still has a multigenerational nature. Both the instructors and the dancers are the second generation of the people operating within the group. Since 2002 the choreographer of the group is a dancer Ilona Grzanka-Osińska. New musical arrangements and new choreographies appeared: dances of Lublin region, The Tavern- dances of Opoczno region, dances of Zywiec City-dwellers.
The instructors build the future of Bychlewianka group on the basis of its past achievement as well as on the new ideas.
Our participation in festivals and trips abroad:
AUSTRIA-LOEBEN-1984
NETHERLANDS-ODORN-1985
GERMANY-Floh-1986
YUGOSLAVIA-LOTIKA-1987
GERMANY-Winningen-1987
FINLAND-Rauh-1987
NETHERLANDS-SHAGEN-1988
TURKEY-MERSIN-1988
GREECE-KSANTHI-1989
NETHERLANDS-ODORN-1989
ITALY-PADUA I Minturno-1990
BELGIUM-MECHELEN-1990
SPAIN-ALERMANDRALEJO-1991
PORTUGAL-Valadares-1992
GERMANY-Winningen-1993
ROMANIA-TIMISUARA-1995
TURKEY-BURSA-1997
ROMANIA-SIBIU-1998
TURKEY-Edirne-1999
HUNGARY-GYOHR-2000
LIThuania-TURGIELE/Vilnius-2004
SERBIA-KRALIEVO-2007
CZECH REPUBLIC-PRAGUE-2009
BULGARIA-BURGAS-2009
BULGARIA-PRIMORSKO-2010
Albania-Vlora / Gijrokastra-2013
hungary-kerepes-2013
HOLAND-ODORN 2014
GREECE-PARALIA 2104
CZECH REPUBLIC-BOJKOWICE 2015
ROMANIA-VASLUI 2015
The group consists currently of 100 dancers. They are divided into five groups.
In the group for younger children we play with a dance, we prepare for a good presentation on the stage, we learn the basic steps of Polish folk dances.
The older group is more demanding. That is why the instructors require more from these dancers. We prepare longer medleys of dances which are performed in folk costumes.
The group for teenagers consists of dancers who have performed in our team for several years. They have good bases and they are improving their skills in the new dance compositions. They are still having fun! For many of them it is already a family tradition!