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chodzony

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It's one of the oldest processional dances preserved in Poland. It is a slow dance, performed in pairs, which move around the circle or in a straight line, making slow, graceful steps. It's been a ceremonial dance with hierarchy and a predetermined order of pairs in the procession. It was danced during weddings and folk feasts.
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This dance has been very popular throughout Poland, having a lot of regional variants and different names. It's been known as polski (Polish), wielki (great), powolny (leisurely), chmielowy (of hops), na ksebkę (turning left), polonaise and wolny (slow). As a processional dance, it formed a part of many ancient rites, and in Poland it was for the longest time linked with wedding ceremonials. The name chodzony (walked) stems from the stately movement of dancers who took simple walking steps, usually in a procession. The chodzony is a slow dance, in a 3/4 (sometimes 4/4) metre, where pairs move around the circle (or a similar figure) and the procession is accompanied by a song telling about a wedding or another important family occasion. In many local variants the dancers lend variety to the steps with ceremonial bows, turning to each other, hand gestures and turns in place. As in a ceremonial dance the order of pairs was strictly determined and preserved. Most often a wedding chodzony was led by a marshal and a matchmaker or a godmother, after them came the bride and groom, then the parents, best men and bridesmaids, and other guests (if – of course – there was still room for them in the dance hall). The chodzony was often danced at the start of a wedding reception, when the bride and groom have returned from church, sometimes it also served to "accompany" the bride to the house of the groom, but most usually it was danced just before, during, or just after the unveiling and capping ceremony. In the eastern parts of the country the procession often included the carrying of the korowaj (a wedding cake), which added to the ceremonial character of the wedding procession. In most cases the chodzony was danced against the sun (counterclockwise), "to ward off evil" (na urok), to secure good health, happiness and fertility of the newlyweds. In Wielkopolska, Kujawy and Ziemia Lubuska chodzony was a sort of prelude to other dances: the równy and kujawiak.

 

Dąbrowska, Grażyna W. red. Taniec w polskiej tradycji. Leksykon. Warszawa: MUZA, 2005/2006.

Glapa, Adam; Kowalski, Alfons. Tańce i zabawy wielkopolskie. Wrocław: PTL, 1961.

Lange, Roderyk. Tradycyjny taniec ludowy w Polsce i jego przeobrażenia w czasie i przestrzeni. Londyn: Polski Uniwersytet na Obczyźnie, 1978.

Lange, Roderyk; Krzyżaniak, Barbara; Pawlak, Aleksander. Folklor Kujaw. Warszawa: Centralny Ośrodek Metodyki Upowszechniania Kultury, 1979.