Krystyna Kryszko directed the Polish Alliance Dancers and the General Pulaski Polish Language School of PNA Lodge 2525 for over 36 years. In 1996, she, along with the first choreographer, Audra Cauchon, founded the adult ensemble POLANIE Song & Dance Ensemble. She dedicated many years to ensuring that young children and adults learned about Polish culture, arts, traditions, song, and dance.
Under her leadership, she organized seven trips to Rzeszów, Poland, to participate in the World Polish Folk Dance Festival. These trips also included sightseeing visits to Warszawa, Kraków, Gdańsk, Gdynia, Częstochowa, Oświęcim, among many others. One of her greatest accomplishments was writing and producing Góralskie Wesele, a community…:recognized and successful event held at the American Polish Cultural Center in 2001.
With the youth groups, she traveled to many PNA-sponsored jamborees, including those held at Orchard Lake over many years. The children, as well as the adult ensemble, participated in numerous parades, festivals, nursing home performances, dance and language recitals, special events, and presentation balls sponsored by the dance groups and language school.
Krystyna Kryszko is married to Anthony and has three children: Barbara, Stephen, and Richard. AII three were members of both the dance and language schools. Her sons were also members of POLANIE and traveled to Rzeszów, Poland, with the ensemble.
Krystyna has directed and chaired or co-chaired various Polonia events such as the PNA District 10 Presentation Balls, Dożynki, Wigilia, Opłatek, and Święconka, to name a few. These events not only promoted Polish customs and traditions, but also created opportunities for Polish Americans and Polonians—as well as the participating youth and young adults-to discover and engage in the sense of being Polish.
Krystyna is very active and holds several offices at the local Polish National Alliance level. She is Secretary of the PNA District 10 Women’s Division, Secretary of PNA Council 54, and Financia! Secretary of PNA Lodge 2525. She is also Director Emeritus of the Polish Alliance Dancers, General Pulaski Polish Language School, and POLANIE Song and Dance Ensemble.
At this time, Krystyna expressed her gratitude, saying, “I am deeply grateful to Polonia, the PNA, the Polish Alliance Dancers, the General Pulaski Polish Language School, and the POLANIE Song and Dance Ensemble for giving me the opportunity to create so many wonderful and rewarding memories. These moments, however, would not hove been possible without the unwavering support of my family my husband, Anthony; my children, Barbara, Stephen, and Richard; my late mother, Janina Kalarus; and my sister, Donna Swiderski Kalarus, and her familv.”
Source: Booklet “Top 25 Polish American Leaders in 2025 Awards Banquet”.
