I'm a horrible neighbour

Do you remember the poem "Paweł i Gaweł" of Aleksander Fredro? Ok, there are two men whose lifestyles diverge. The unique thing they have in common is that they're really bad neighbours. Ather an unpleasant situation that had place last week I can identify with this story...

So the mentioned last week I knew a new step of krakowiak - krzesany. Already its name says a lot: it's very energetic and pert step, you need to put all the power you have in hit the floor with your heel. At the same moment you go down with the other leg. When the leg that hit the floor come back, both straighten up in the knee. Let's have a look (it starts at 40 seconds):

Now, you can imagine me, dancing it in my flat at 10 p.m. (it's the hour when I'm usually back home after the dance class). Oh, of course, it's necessary to add that I live in the fourth floor... I had never meet my neighbour below, but I hear him often. He cough and talk too loudly... So maybe I thought he doesn't care about the noise. I went wrong... That day I only heard swearwords. Ups!

Yes, it's true, I behaved scandalous. But since then I know the place to practice the steps is neither the road nor the flat. It's exclusively the gymnasium ;)

Landing in the puddle

That's incredible how the time runs fast! Ten days ago, on 14 October, I went for the first time to the rehearsal of the group of begginers. I remember I was quite nervous and uncertain. I wasn't sure, for exemple, if my clothes were appropiate (I mean, just my gym suit, not a special costume or something like that). The strees (although it was unjustified) usually makes us doubt about ourselves, our possibilities. So I struggle with myself, but I win one battle after another!

When the first class finished, there weren't a person happier than me in the group. I couldn't stop smiling and talking with my new friends about our impressions. I was excited about basic steps of krakowiak and oberek we just learned.

Today I'd like to discribe you the first one, calls hołubiec. It consists of jump and hit one foot with the other, but not at the place you're standing on. The jump must be to the right or to the left. The point of heaviness is the leg which only jump. The other leg gives the direction and it's this one which hit when it comes back to the straight position of your body. Do I make myself understood? Maybe it will be easier to show it on a video. So there you are, a short movie of the annual event Wytnij Hołubca whereby the folk groups teach people around the city to dance this step.

Ok, and what about the puddle and landing in it? That's just a consequence of excercise hołubiec also outside the gymnasium. One day I was coming back with my sister from the town centre and in the road very close to my house, where there weren't nobody, I decided to show her what I had learned. I don't know how I did it, but the first attempt did me land in the puddle in the middle of the road. And that's the first anecdote I can relate about my folk adventure :) Oh, I almost forget to thank my sister for help me get up, clean my clothes, bag and hair and disinfect my little wound... :) I love you very much, Misia!

Why folk?

Hello everybody! My name is Magda. I study Spanish Philology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. This blog is a type of homework for my English classes, but not only. I really like write and I also have other blogs, in Polish and Spanish. So I just treat it like a pleasure! Of course, it always requires time and concentration, but we have to demand of ourselves even if other people didn't demand of us, like John Paul II said. For me the difficulty will be the language. I didn't have contact with English for three years, so you can suppose the number of errors that will appear here... I really apologize for that and I ask you to correct me!

Now the question is: WHY FOLK? At the blog of my English teacher, there is an invitation to undertake something in the new academic year. I very admire all the people who take care of preserve and show the folklore of their country. That's the reason of why I have always dreaming about be a folk dancer. Finally, after three years of doubt, I made a decision of join Zespół Tańca Ludowego "Poznań" and since 14 October I attend the meetings of the group. I learn steps, meet people and, maybe the most important thing, I overcome my fright. I would like to share with you my observations. It will be something extremely different that I know: not a part of Spanish or Latin America's culture that I'm learing about, but roots of my slavic nation. I hope you enjoy this challenge with me!