About Us

Dancers from the Polish Friendship “ZGODA” Society Dancers have been sharing their love of Polish traditions and culture through dance for over 60 years! The centre started with a small number of enthusiastic members who arrived to Vancouver after the Second World War. The first dancers from Zgoda started performing in 1948. Since then, the Polish centre on Fraser Street has hosted many dance troupes, from Karpaty, to Zgoda and now Polonez. The dance group’s current name Polonez or Polonaise, has its roots in a peasant walking dance and which through transformation is now recognized as one of Poland’s National dances. The current group Polonez, has been in existence for the past 25 years and has between 10-12 dedicated members. The dance choreographer is Barbara Bartnik.

The dance group has a number of national and regional dances in its repertoire, from Polonez, Kujawiak, Mazur and Krakowiak to regional dances from Lublin, Nowy Sacz and the Kurpie region. The folk costumes have been either imported from Poland or made locally here in Vancouver.

The dance group performs regularly in the Vancouver area at various festivals and Polish functions. The dancers have performed at the Burnaby European Festival since its inception 16 year ago, at Zgoda’s Annual Polish Harvest Festival, at the Kitsilano Showboat, the German Christmas Market, at St. Casimirs Parish Days, at various ethnic festivals (Serbian, Russian, and Greek), weddings as well as a number of senior centres, (Kopernik, Brocke Farhni, and Fairhaven). Out of city performances include Kamloops, Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, Victoria, Poland and Spain.

To book the dancers or for any further information, please email Polonez at office.polishcom@shaw.ca or phone Zgoda at 604-874-8620.