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Mazurkas of the World Festival 2025
On the Dancehouse Trail
Warsaw, April 23-26, 2025
The 16th Mazurkas of the World Festival – the spring celebration of traditional music, dances and songs – is coming up! The program boosts four days of concerts, workshops, and dances with the best rural and urban bands from Poland, Hungary, France, and Slovakia, as well as a vibrant celebration of the Dance House of Poland, classes in dancing, singing, and playing, the colorful Instrument Fair, and events for kids. And to top it all off, the Night of Dance – nearly 30 bands and an all-night dance extravaganza. This year’s dance-oriented edition was selected to co-create the National Cultural Program of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU 2025 and was financially supported by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the program.
This year, the Festival concerts will tell a tale of the idea of dance houses – a movement that was born in Hungary in the 1970s and reached Poland and Slovakia in the 1990s. It was initiated by young people fascinated by traditional village music that used to be danced to at weddings and dance parties before it was torn away from its original context and “beautified” on stage or turned into institutional folklore. In many countries, hundreds of initiatives and places sprung up where traditional bands played at dances, and people could go back to the roots and the joy of communal fun.
One of the examples of the revival of traditional dance is Brittany in western France. Today, it has a thriving local music scene, with over a thousand fest-noz dances a year. The revival movement has taken off there already in the 1950s. Bands with folk instruments started playing in local bars, and the towns built special dance halls with wooden floors to accommodate people dancing the traditional dances – in circles and in lines, in rows and in pairs…
The eponymous concert On the Dancehouse Trail (April 25) will show us the perspective of going back to the musical roots in four countries – Hungary, France (Brittany), Slovakia, and Poland. The music that will sweep you up to dance will be played by wonderful bands: Muzička from Slovakia, Erdőfű from Hungary, two duos from Brittany – the singing Guélou sisters and Julien Tymen/Tangi Pensec who play the bombard and the Breton bagpipes biniou – and Janusz Prusinowski Kompania accompanied by the singer Maria Siwiec from Gałki, Radomskie. Each group will be accompanied by dancers – and everyone who feels like dancing.
The Thursday concert Celebrating 30 Years of the Dance House of Poland (April 24) will be a communal celebration of the jubilee of the Dance House – an initiative that inspired hundreds of young people in Poland to learn to dance and play from rural musicians, and to organize dances, summer camps, and all sorts of activities centered around traditional music and culture all across Poland. The event is a meeting of musicians, dancers and activists connected to the Dance House from all over the country, filled with music, dancing, and stories of the last 30 years. The performers include Tęgie Chłopy, Kożuch, DiaBubu, Biskupianie, Chłopcy z Nowoszyszek, Malik band, Wiesia Gromadzka’s band, Zwykli Ludzie, Zawiejoki, Raszewski band.
As per Festival tradition, on the first day we will hold a concert of the laureates of the Old Tradition competition (April 23), and on the last – the Instrument Fair (April 26), with presentations of instruments building, mini concerts, and the kid-oriented Little Mazurkas. And, last but not least, the grand finale of the Festival, the 10-hour-long Night of Dance (April 26). At Forteca Kręgliccy, Zakroczymska 12 street, dance music will be played by bands from cities and villages all across Poland and beyond. The performers include: Warszawska Orkiestra Sentymentalna, HrayBery (Poland/Ukraine), Kapela Zastawnych, Gracze z Łęgu, our guests from Hungary, Brittany, and Slovakia, Tęgie Chłopy, Janusz Prusinowski Kompania.
After each concert from Wednesday to Friday, you can dance till 1 a.m. at the Festival Club, and participate in workshops from the morning to 5 p.m. Over 60 hours of workshops in singing, dancing and playing folk instruments await!
Mazurkas of the World Festival is one of the initiatives born out of the idea of the dance houses. For the past 15 years, it has been fostering the growth of the community and it continues to be a fertile ground for the rise of a new generation of those who play, dance, sing and appreciate coming together to the sounds of traditional music.
Festival locations:
Centrum Promocji Kultury, Podskarbińska 2 street
Terminal Kultury Gocław, Jana Nowaka-Jeziorańskiego 24 street
Forteca Kręgliccy, Zakroczymska 12 street
Tickets: 30-110 PLN. Concerts on Wednesday and Thursday and the Instrument Fair – free admittance.
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Financially supported by: the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage National Cultural Program of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU 2025 and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Fund for the Promotion of Culture.
Co-financed by: the City of Warsaw, funds from the Mazovian Voivodeship Self-Government in the framework of the “Strategy for Cultural Development in the Mazovian Voivodeship 2023-2027.”
Co-organizer: National Centre for Culture Poland
Organizer: Fundacja Wszystkie Mazurki Świata
Honorary patron: The National Institute of Culture and Rural Heritage
Media patrons: Polskie Radio Dwójka, Radiowe Centrum Kultury Ludowej, Radio Dla Ciebie, TVP Kultura, Muzykatradycyjna.pl
Partners: Stowarzyszenie Dom Tańca, Dom Bretanii, Instytut Słowacki w Warszawie, Instytut Liszta – Węgierski Instytut Kultury w Warszawie, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Terminal Kultury Gocław, Centrum Promocji Kultury Praga Południe, Forteca Kręgliccy, Noclegi Stadion
Accreditation queries should be sent to: jagnaknittel@gmail.com
In case of any questions, please contact: Jagna Knittel, ph: +48 606 966 337
