Folk and National Dances in the Work of Zofia Kwaśnicowa

Abstract

Zofia Kwaśnicowa was one of the most outstanding teachers of the Central Institute of Physical Education, renamed the Józef Piłsudski Academy of Physical Education in Warsaw in 1938. For the needs of both the physical education staff and of general education, she developed a methodology of teaching folk dances and music and movement exercises. This was preceded by four years of ethnographic research (1931-1935), covering almost the entire area of the Second Polish Republic. She acquired original dance folklore from many regions which was then introduced into school curricula in the interwar period and was continually taught until the end of the 1970s. The aim of this work is to present the merits of Zofia Kwaśnicowa in the development of the methodology of teaching folk and national dances, as well as music and movement classes for the needs of education. Research methods from the field of historical sciences have been used, primarily critical analysis and the interpretation of documents, primary and secondary sources, as well as the historical interpretation of facts.