NIE BEDO JUZ TEGO – An unforgettable journey
Participation in the “International Students Festival of Folklore” in Katowice (Poland) from 24.08. to 01.09.2002
On 24.08.2002 the time had finally come. The highlight of the year was just around the corner. We, the folklore dance ensemble “Thea Maass” from TU Dresden and our seven musicians, boarded the fully packed bus at 1 a.m. and set off for Katowice in Poland to attend the International Folklore Festival. We finally reached our destination a little later than planned, which was probably due to the fact that some of the roads resembled a mogul slope. We were greeted warmly in the University of Katowice hall of residence and waited eagerly to meet the other groups. We had the opportunity to do so on the same day during a parade through Katowice. Unfortunately, only five of the planned eight dance groups arrived. So in the evening we were able to enjoy watching dances by the ensembles from Ukraine, Sardinia, Portugal and the Students’ Folk Ensemble “Katowice” of the University of Silesia during the opening program.
The next day, after attending the church service, we drove to Ogrodziench and had our first major performance in front of the backdrop of a beautiful castle ruin. Afterwards, we quickly had to get back on the bus to drive to the next performance venue. In Poland, the bus not only served as a means of transportation, but also, as is so often the case, as a checkroom. Bus driver Steffen could rock the bus as much as he wanted, we braided hair, looked for costumes and wrote announcements. The latter was not so easy as we had to do it in German and Polish. A big thank you goes to Adam and Eva, who both come from the Czech Republic and danced with us for a year during a semester abroad. They always took the trouble to translate the announcements and ensure that we were always in the right place at the right time. We will miss them. After being on the road every day, performing and taking part in parades, we had the opportunity to get to know the other groups in the evenings. We played music and danced together with the Poles, the Portuguese and all the others well into the night. In addition, each nation organized an evening to show dances from their country and encourage everyone to dance along.
We learned lots of new steps and had a lot of fun. It was fascinating and nice to experience folkloric dances from other countries. In the middle of our ten-day stay, we visited the beautiful city of Krakow. We wandered through its old streets, explored the market and enjoyed a quiet lunch on a meadow by the Vistula, soaking up the sun.
Between many performances on streets, stages and in front of churches, where our new male dance “Hütejungen” had its premiere, we also had the opportunity to visit the concentration camp in Auschwitz. The cheerful atmosphere was interrupted for a few hours. On the penultimate day of our trip, we had a live performance at TVP 3 in Katowice. After a short rehearsal with all the groups, the lights went on and all the cameras were ready. It was an unusual but great feeling. We performed two of our dances and then immediately got on our bus to go to the next performance. This time it had to be done particularly quickly. That’s why the convoy of buses loaded with dancers was driven through the city to the next stage with blue lights and sirens blaring.
Our stay in Poland was slowly coming to an end, although nobody really wanted to admit it. On the last evening, we said goodbye with a joint performance, where we not only danced our dances, but also rehearsed a new dance and a Polish folk song together with everyone. It was a moving feeling to sing the same song together with all the dancers, which gave many of us goose bumps. The personal farewell was also associated with a tear or two for some. We hope to keep in touch and remember the time in Poland fondly by simply singing our song: „Nie bedo juz tego…“!
Nora Jantzen
Publication in the company magazine “Glasklar” of GlaxoSmithKline GmbH & Co. KG in March 2003
I have been an apprentice mechatronics technician at SSW Dresden since August 8, 2001. In my free time, I go to training sessions with the folklore dance ensemble “Thea Maass” at Dresden University of Technology. This dance group – six men and 17 women aged between 17 and 43 – has been around for 52 years. I myself have been a member for ten years. We dance folklore dances from different regions of Germany. Most of our choreographies are based on old customs and dance forms. Last year, our intensive rehearsals were again rewarded with an invitation to an international folklore festival:
On August 24, 2002, we traveled with our seven musicians to the “International Students Festival of Folklore” in Katowice, Poland. For ten days we had numerous performances, took part in parades and played and danced together with Poles, Sardinians, Portuguese and all the others, often well into the night. Because we were constantly on the move, the bus not only served as a means of transportation, but often also as a wardrobe; We braided hair, looked for costumes and wrote announcements. In the evening, we got to know the other groups better. Each nation organized an evening in which they showed dances from their country and encouraged everyone to dance along. We learned lots of steps and had a lot of fun.
In the middle of our stay we visited Krakow. Between many performances on the streets, stages and in front of churches, our new men’s dance “Hütejungen” also had its premiere. On the penultimate day of our trip, we even had a live appearance on TVP 3 in Katowice. After a short rehearsal with all the groups, the cameras and spotlights went on. It was an unusual, great feeling and we performed two of our dances. We said goodbye on the last evening with a joint performance in which we rehearsed a new dance and a Polish folk song together with everyone. We like to remember our time in Poland by simply singing our song,,Nie bedo juz…“.
Marcus Lommatzsch
