By: Nicholas J. Nowakowski
Summer is a great time to take a holiday. Lots of people jet off to warm places with beaches, and picturesque views. In 2024, the PRCUA Gwiazda Dancers were part of this trend as they traveled to Macedonia and Greece from July 16 – July 28, 2024.
Like many Polonian childrens’ groups, Gwiazda had hoped and planned to attend the World International Children’s Folk Dance Festival in Iwonicz Zdroj, Poland this summer. However, due to the festival’s cancellation, Gwiazda was forced to seek a different summer performance venue.
In seeking out this opportunity, the time slot for the festival had to match the approximate timeframe for the Iwonicz Zdroj festival has many families had already requested time off from their jobs. This timeframe was also important to not conflict with ZHP’s zlot, which was occurring at the end of July in North Carolina. Gwiazda was thrilled when it found several Festivals that would be held in the City of Ohrid, in the Republic of North Macedonia which fell within the appropriate July timeframe.
On July 16, 2024, the Gwiazda Dancers and their families boarded flights to take them from Detroit, Michigan to Skopje in the Republic of North Macedonian where their festival adventures would begin.
The dancers arrived in Skopje on the 17th and spent the rest of the day exploring the old and new bazaar in Skopje. The evening was topped off with a group dinner at a Macedonian restaurant.
On the morning of July 18, the dancers and their families boarded a bus which would take them to Ohrid, their base of operations for the next several days.
While in Ohrid, the Gwiazda Dancers received a city tour of Ohrid and its ancient citadel. The days in Ohrid (which were incredibly hot) also featured morning dance practices in preparation for the weeks’ performances. The dancers performed as part of the festivals on July 19 and July 20 in the city square in Ohrid. As part of the festival Gwiazda presented suites of dances from Lublin and Kaszuby and its oberek. During these festivals Gwiazda shared the stage with groups from Bulgaria, Macedonia, Turkey, Croatia, Romania and Poland.
On July 21, basking in their post festival glow, the Gwiazda Dancers took a boat ride on Lake Ohrid to the Saint Naum monastery. While in and around there were opportunities for swimming, shopping, lunch and taking in nature. As luck would have it, there was a group of Polish (from Poland) on the boat with Gwiazda and an impromptu discopolo dance party broke out. On the return from St. Naum, Gwiazda said goodbye to its new friends sending them off with a rendition of “Wszycy Polacy.”
On July 22, Gwiazda left Ohrid and headed to Struga, Macedonia. There they spent the day taking in the sun on the plentiful beaches and visiting the mountain springs in nearby Vevchani. It was an early night though as a bus arrived at 3:45 am on July 23, to take Gwiazda from Struga to the Thessaloniki airport for their flight to Athens, Greece.
With the performances behind it, Gwiazda was now ready for the relaxation part of the trip. They arrived in Athens on July 23. On July 24 the group participated in a guided tour of the Acropolis, the Acropolis museum and some highlights of Athens.
From July 25 – July 27, Gwiazda found itself approximately 4 and ½ hours from Athens on the Grecian Island of Santorini. Considered a “bucket list” destination by many and consistently rated among the most beautiful places on the planet, Gwiazda had an opportunity to experience Santorini by experiencing a sunset cruise on the Aegean Sea, a guided tour of the island along with some independent time for exploring and shopping.
On July 27 the group returned from Santorini to Athens with an opportunity to do some last minute shopping, swim in the hotel pool and rearrange suitcases for the flight home (several families stayed a few extra days in Greece also).
These performances in Ohrid marked Gwiazda’s first international performances since their performance in Iwonicz Zdroj in 2018. And after the experiences, they certainly won’t be the last. Here are some thoughts from some of the Gwiazda dancers who participated in the Festivals:
I had an amazing time dancing in Macedonia! Thank you to all of the people and businesses that made this possible. Dancing in Macedonia was a once in a life time experience! – Lucyna W., 13
In July 2024 I had the honor and privilege to participate in an International festival in beautiful Macedonia. To be able to celebrate my heritage and honor my home country was such an amazing experience for us all. I feel so blessed to have shared this with my dance family as well as my own and is something I will cherish forever!
After the festival, we were able to enjoy Beautiful Greece! Our group and families flew to Greece for a much needed vacation!!
Thank you to PRCUA, everyone that donated and helped with fundraising , my wonderful Dance teacher Mrs. Basia Nowakowski, Director Ms. Jessica Urban, and to Mr. Nick Nowakowski for this experience. A special thank you to my parents for encouraging me to keep my Polish heritage close to my heart and allowing me to have these experiences!
Gwiazda will always be my family! – Sophia Z., 17
Gwiazda would like to thank its director, choreographer, officers and their families for all of their hard work in committing to multiple practices and fundraising in order to ensure that this trip was a success. Also a special thank you to all of Gwiazda’s sponsors: PRCUA, Gabletek, Kozi Imports, Club Bleu. Thanks to Trish Sticklinski for providing coordinating luggage tags to all of the festival-goers. These were hugely helpful for quickly spotting bags coming off of airport baggage carousels, and to Aimee Porzondek for providing each of the dancers with a travel journal to collect their thoughts during the international performances and wanderings.
With summer on the wane, Gwiazda has several performances and appearances on the books. Perhaps will see you at one of them? The PRCUA Gwiazda Dancers are on social media. You can like them on Facebook or follow them on X f/k/a Twitter (@PRCUA_Gwiazda).
Photos:
Morning pre-festival performance practice in Ohrid;
Festival parade in Ohrid;
Gwiazda Dancers in Ohrid;
Gwiazda Dancers on boat ride on Lake Ohrid to visit St. Naum monastery.
