Twirling, Spinning, Dancing

This weekend I’m uploading two posts about school events. It’s wonderful to work in a school and have the opportunity to attend all of the students’ special events and celebrations!

Prom in January

“Studniówka” in Poland is the equivalent of senior prom in America. However, it occurs in January (not in the spring), 100 days before the seniors’ final exit exams in May (called the Matura exams). Here are my favorite memories from my 1^st Studniówka.

(Sadly, I don’t have a lot of photographs to post because they hired a professional photographer and I can’t post his [beautiful!] photographs on the Internet. I only have a couple personal photographs to upload here, and not a lot of photographs of students unfortunately.)

One disadvantage to a “100 days prior to the Matura” prom? Well, “100 days before May exams” equals a prom in January, when the temperature is below zero. My “traveling to prom” fashion statement included my knee-high ski socks over my panty hose. (Thanks to my friend Kamila for lending me a dress for Studniówka!)

The Polonez Dance

I don’t teach any of the seniors this year, but it’s a tradition to invite the American volunteers (typically only the teachers currently teaching the seniors are invited). The day before Studniówka the seniors invited Colleen and me to learn the traditional polonez dance with them.

(Before reading on, I’d encourage you to watch this YouTube video of the dance. You’ll understand what I say next better if you do! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxqIyWK4cFI&feature=quicklist&playnext=13&playnext_from=QL)

It’s a Studniówka tradition that the polonez is always the opening dance. It’s a beautiful, straightforward, traditional Polish dance, set in 3/4 time, and you accent the 1^st beat by bending your knee. Between the 17^th and 19^th centuries, the dance opened court balls and royal ceremonies. It’s a very dignified dance and couples always dance according to their social status. Appropriately, therefore, according to my “social status” at school (i.e., I’m a 1^st year teacher), I lined up and danced smack dab in the middle, after all the other teachers (lead by the school directors, then the senior class homeroom teachers, then the other teachers in attendance), but before the students, who directly followed me. I love this dance and how majestic the music is. I especially love it when couples join together ("four across") and the “tunnel.”

Gratitude

What’s unique about “Polish prom” is that teachers are invited, and at our school (but not all Polish schools), parents also attend for the 1^st 2-3 hours. What I love about Studniówka is that it celebrates the students and lets them celebrate with and thank the important people in their “school lives” – their parents and teachers. Lots of Polish celebrations include opportunities for people to say thank you to the people who support them, and I love this! At weddings, there’s a special time when the bride and groom say thank you to their parents, and at Studniówka, there’s a special time when the students say thank you to their teachers, especially their homeroom teachers. We should always remember to thank the people in our lives, and I love how Polish celebrations have “built-in” gratitude traditions where people get to say “thanks!”

A Joyful Celebration of School Community

I’ve only substituted for the seniors on a couple of occasions, and I don’t know them well, but I loved watching them at Studniówka. They deeply care about their classmates. At prom, they did skits, showed videos they created about their class, and danced together for 6+ hours (the celebration lasted almost 12 hours total). I have a wonderful memory of the students dancing to one song. “Dancing” isn’t exactly the correct word; I remember one song where they “whirled” and “twirled” on the dance floor, separate (each person whirling and twirling alone) but together, free, themselves, happy. Studniówka is a celebration of school community and watching the students unconsciously and joyously twirl (literally, they were twirling in circles) on the dance floor with their classmates warmed my heart.

Here’s a photograph of all the seniors at my school after their skit at the prom (you’ll notice that sadly, no, they aren’t in their formal prom attire here but their skit costumes. I don’t have a personal photograph of them in their formal wear.) It’s a very tiny class, and I think that contributes to how close they are. It was a very intimate prom.

Here’s a photograph of me and Colleen at Studniówka with our two school directors, Lidia and Ola. They are wonderful directors and very caring supervisors! And here's a photograph Lidia took of me and Colleen.