Review: THE MAGNIFICENT MAZOWSZE

Polish folk dance and music ensemble Mazowsze returned to the Kennedy Center for the first time in over 20 years to a full and enthusiastic audience in the Opera house. With colorful costumes festooned with ribbons, bells, flowers, scarves, vests and hats galore, this group of over 150 artists offers a feast for the eyes and ears, and their songs and dances reflect 42 different regions of Poland.

Like the Rockettes or a great Super Bowl halftime show, Mazowsze creates impressive formations of color and movement onstage. It’s joyous to behold, at least at first, and performed with clarity if not always excitement. But the homogenous approach and non-narrative choreography left me bored after just a few works. I longed for solos, trios, and other arrangements. If every piece has the intensity of the final kickline, then no piece stands out at all. 

As a self-proclaimed cultural ambassador, Mazowsze strives to showcase the range and beauty of the country’s traditions, music and dance. Here the range felt smaller than billed. Perhaps under different hands - different direction and choreography - the nuances of dances from Rozbark might be easier to distinguish from those of Kaszuby. As it was, they blurred together. Another charming dance with couples twirling with stiff upper bodies and bright smiles. 

It gave me a picture of Poland that, while sunny, wasn’t particularly appealing; overly varnished and unrealistic. No place is always sunny, not even Poland. 

I would like to see what someone like Krzysztof Pastor, Director of the Polish National Ballet, would do with the ensemble. Would we get sadness to balance the joy? But that’s a wild request for an ensemble steeped in tradition and rooted in the past. 

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Ensemble.

Runtime: Two hours and thirty minutes, including intermission.

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