| Wici Song and Dance Company of the Polish National Alliance 4/24/2003 - Wici Song and Dance Company of the Polish National Alliance.
Magdalena Solarz, Artistic Director, Choreographer
The WICI Song and Dance Company was organized in 1972 for the purpose of preserving and promoting Polish culture through song, dance and music. In 1983, they became the representative group of the Polish National Alliance, the largest Polish fraternal organization in the U.S. In the same year, the company incorporated and registered as an Illinois charitable, non-profit organization. Over the years, WICI have performed at various local, city and state events, throughout Chicago's communities, numerous Illinois cities and towns, several states, as well as in Europe. Well over 1,600 young people and adults have participated in the group's activities. WICI are divided into two groups numbering over 100 dancers, musicians and artists.
Currently, the ensemble has in its repertoire national dances (Polonez, Mazur, Krakowiak, Kujawiak, Oberek) and suites of dances from eight regions of Poland, all based on authentic songs and melodies of the particular region. It boasts an enviable collection of handmade costumes imported from Poland, and performs with a live band. In the last decade, WICI has had the honor of performing with the International Music Theater in The Haunted Manor and Halka, two of Poland's greatest operas. WICI have also worked in cooperation with Twin Cities Ballet in Alexander Bennett's productions of The Nutcracker, Coppelia and Swan Lake ballets, and with the Du Page Opera in the operettas The Gypsy Baron and The Bat. More recently, WICI has partnered with the Polish American Symphony Orchestra of Chicago, and has appeared at outstanding venues including Chicago's Orchestra Hall and the John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C.
Portraying the opulent beauty of Polish culture, the WICI Song and Dance Company hopes to enrich the American culture with ethnic variety and classical art.
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