Dear Members, Thank you, Daniel Smela

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1 Dear Members,. The PFDAA Board is still in the planning phase of organizing an instructor s only workshop for in August 26, 27, & 28 of This workshop will feature a specialized choreographer to teach dances from Lemko and will be open to all members leaders/instructors to take part in. Once we have more information of the location an will be sent to all group directors/choreographers who are in good standing. The 2016 instructors workshops will also coincide with the PFDAA elections scheduled on the same weekend of this event. All the positions on the BOD are up for re-elections, President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Sergeant-at-Arms. If you are interested in running for any of these positions please contact Daniel at pfdaa.contact@gmail.com. As always if you have any questions or concerns, I invite you to reach out to us the Board to help answer them for you. Thank you, Daniel Smela

2 PFDAA WELCOMES OUR NEWEST GROUP MEMBER Karpaty Dance Ensemble Karpaty Dance Ensemble of Salt Lake City is a newly formed initiative, focused on exploring the culture of Poland and Ukraine and its songs and dances. The group presents some of Poland and Ukraine s most exciting and dances, and through the use of various costumes from different regions and through the characteristics in each dance, Karpaty provides a true kaleidoscope of traditional Polish and Ukrainian folk dance. Salt Lake City is a great creative hub, encompassing many different cultures, and a sizable Slavic population. Many notable Polish, Ukrainian and Russian people have visited Salt Lake City, known for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Many of those visitors stayed, and formed the community known in Salt Lake today. Karpaty performs at many different events year-round, both in the state of Utah, as well as nationally and internationally. Every three years, Karpaty travels to Poland to participate in the International Polish Folk Dance Festival, where distinguished Polish folk ensembles come to represent the countries they reside in, and also present Polish culture through dance. TWIN CITIES FESTIVAL The Twin Cities Polish Festival is looking for dancers and folk entertainment for the Cultural stage. The dates for the 2016 festival are August 12 th, 13 th, 14 th. Please contact Edziu edziur@aol.com or visit tcpolishfestival.org and submit an entertainment form from the website at

3 On Saturday, June 18, 2018, group members participated in the 2016 PFDAA Concert Gala at the 35 th Milwaukee Polish Fest. Groups that participated are, Dolina Polish Folk Dancers, Lajkonik Song & Dance Ensemble, Polanie Dance Ensemble, Syrena Polish Folk Dancers, Tatry Polish Highlanders, Wesoly Lud Polish Folk Dance Company of PRCUA, Whispers of Artistic Expression, Wici Song & Dance Company, Zakopane Polish Folk Ensemble of PRCUA. Edziu Rajtar, Artistic Director of Dolina and Treasurer of PFDAA, was responsible for coordinating a beautiful array of regional and national dances for the audience to enjoy. He also did an outstanding job as emcee. A special Dziekuje to Richard Jaminski for again doing an awesome job as sound engineer. We do have to also acknowledge Pani Ada, renowned ethnographer and choreographer, at 99 years young, still participates and attends Polish Fest.. She is a true pioneer of Polish Folk Dance and has shared all her talents with many of the choreographer around the U.S. for a number of years. Sto Lat Pani Ada. (Below are pictures of some of the groups who participated, unfortunately not all groups are pictured.

4 Wesoly Lud Polish Folk Dance Company of PRCUA Dolina Polish Folk Dancers Whispers of Artistic Expression

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6 Finale

7 It is with a heavy heart that we say Good Bye to a lifelong friend, and colleague LEONARD PIECE Leonard Len Michael Pierce, 88, of North Attleboro, passed away on Monday, May 30 th, 2016, at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, MA. He was the beloved husband of Eugenia Genie (Ostrowski) Pierce, to whom he was married on May 24, 1952, as well as a beloved father of five, grandfather of eighteen, and great-grandfather of six, with another greatgrandchild on the way. In 1947, Len, along with five other young men, was invited to join the Boston Krakowianki Club, and in 1948, they established the Krakowiak Dance Group. The groups were unified into the Krakowiak Polish Dancers of Boston in The KPDB played an integral part in Len s life. It was there that he met his cherished wife, and there that he made many lifelong friends. At various times, he was a dance leader, vice-president, president, and an administrative director of the dance group. He later became one of the founding members, and then an officer, of the Polish Folk Dance Association of the Americas. He danced with KPDB for over fifty years, traveled to Poland with KPDB more than ten times, and earned several medals and honors, including the Order of Merit awarded by the Minister of Culture of Poland. Above all else, he loved spending time with his family, and sharing the Polish traditions and heritage that meant so much to him.

8 GROUP MEMBER NEWS 2016 ANNUAL PFDAA DUES For those group members who have not paid their 2016 annual dues you are asked to send $35 and any past dues to our Treasurer as soon as possible, to be considered a member in good standing PFDAA Edziu Rajtar 2239 Stinson Blvd NE Minneapolis, MN Should you have any questions regarding your dues, please contact Edziu Rajtar directly via , edziur@aol.com PFDAA WEBSITE Please don t forget that our website has a plethora for information from costumes, past dance workshop music, group member information, etc. At the beginning of May the Log-In access to PFDAA Website & Password will be updated and a current Log-In ID and Password will ONLY be sent to those group members who have their dues paid to date. Also PFDAA has a Facebook page, The Polish Folk Dance Association of the Americas. Please visit it often to see what other groups are doing. NEWSLETTER ARTICLES WAWEL DETROIT The Wawel Folk Ensemble has yet another Queen among them. Miss Cheryl Lewis was selected 2016 Miss Polish Festival of Macomb, which is sponsored by the Polish Century Club of Sterling Heights. Cheryl has been a member of Wawel for the past 6 years. Congratulations Cheryl! Cheryl (left) is pictured with 2016 Princess Erica Geml. If your group is celebrating a special event or would like to get the word out about an event please feel free to submit a newsletter article to: dntskur@aol.com and it will be published in our next newsletter. Newsletters are published every 4 months (March, June, Sept, and December).

9 Daniel Smiela Corrine Lasek` Donna Skurski President Vice-President Secretary Edziu Rajtar Mariuz Bernatowicz Jerry Drika Treasurer Sargaent-at-Arm Webmaster