Wawel dance troupe

The troupe was formed in 1994 under the direction of Zygmunt Sterecki as choreographer and Basia Fryc as artistic director and costumes. At the time, we inherited costumes over 30 years old made for a previous group of young people. With a wider age range of initial members, a key priority was to make costumes for the members we had. Over the past six years our fundraising activities and support from the Polish Roman Catholic Parish in Luton-Dunstable, the local council and the Polish Ex-Combatants' Association has allowed us to acquire Góralskie, Krakowskie, Lubelskie and Łowickie traditional costumes.

Our current strength is eight pairs. We perform at a wide range of events both locally in the Luton-Dunstable area and throughout Britain. We take an active part in the life of the local Polish Community by performing at events as diverse as the Third of May Celebrations (Celebrating Poland's Constitution of 3rd May 1791, the first in Europe); Soldiers' Day (15 August) and Independence Day (11th November). However, our main performance is reserved for the annual Harvest Festival (Dozynki), which takes place in September.

Last year, three of our group performed at the 11th World Polish Folk Dance Festival in Rzeszów, Poland. We did this in partnership with another dance troupe from Britain and taking part remains one of our most treasured achievements.

We are always keen to attract new members. We rehearse every Friday between 8pm and 9.45pm at the Polish Parish Club in Victoria Street, Dunstable, under the leadership of Basia Fryc, who has been running the troupe since 1997.

New members are always welcome. If you would like to join, please telephone Basia for details on (01582) 650316, or the Parish Club on (01582) 663241 on Friday evenings.

We are members of the Federation of Polish Folklore Groups in Great Britain.

Our Community