Lajkonik Polish Song and Dance Ensemble

We’re hosting Lajkonik Song and Dance Ensemble at Trickster Cultural Center to celebrate Polish Heritage Month and showcase the wonderful talents of the Polish Community.

The Polish Song and Dance Ensemble Lajkonik, or Lajkonik for short, focuses on promoting Polish folk culture through artistic dances, passionate songs and colorful performances. Lajkonik’s four performing groups present a variety of national and regional Polish dances, featuring traditional, dynamic steps and songs sung in the original language. The Lajkonik, which describes a masquerading Tatar warrior on his horse, became a symbol of Poland’s victory over the Tatars in 1241, and still plays an important role in the Krakowiak, the traditional dance of the people of Krakow.

Lajkonik was founded in the fall of 1991 to foster Polish culture and tradition in the United States. The founders of Lajkonik and its first choreographers and instructors were Ewa and Marek Kus who managed the ensemble until 1997. Lajkonik was established at the Polish Mission Holy Trinity Church in Chicago with the permission of father Wladyslaw Gowin, S.Ch., who was Mission’s Director at that time. The Statute of the ensemble, signed by father Wladyslaw Gowin, emphasizes a direct affiliation of Lajkonik with The Holy Trinity Polish Mission. The current director of Lajkonik is father Andrzej Totzke, S.Ch.