D for Dance

Long ago, in Poland, I learned the Ballroom Dance. Somehow, probably due to the instructor's preferences, we did mostly the cha-cha dance then. At that time, I did not have the faintest idea that in the future, I would dance Polish folk dances in Texas.

A few years ago, we were part of a Texas Polish-American folk dance group. We enjoyed performing the State Fair and other local events. 

 

Plano International Festival 2014

When the ensemble was dissolved, we started learning to dance quite different European dances. We joined the Scottish traditional dance enthusiasts. Later, it was also a Contredance and traditional English dance group and old-styled English dances. Once a week, we met other dancers and simply had fun spinning to live music.

Since we have not found any folk dance ensemble in the Hill Country, these days we do the line dance. It is a light and quite an easy form of exercising and a pleasant socializing time as well. On the other hand, there is little space for self-expression/creativity in a line dance, if there is any at all. Everybody stays in the same place and does the same. Do not get me wrong, I appreciate line dancing, but in one way or another, it makes me think of the times when Poland was a socialist country. Life had so many limitations then and censorship was present everywhere. It was like a constant line dance - you were told what to do and not to do. Stepping out of the line was risky and, needless to say, often dangerous. In the 50s, people were penalized - politically and socially humiliated, shamed, and outcasted - even for looking different (having an American fashion type of hairstyle or wearing such clothes).

 

In the place where we practiced Scottish dances

After a six-day workweek (Saturdays were not off then), from time to time on Sundays, there was a so-called "social deed". It meant that if you were a student you had to go with your school group (being an adult - together with your workplace people) to a given place and do a given work for free. In case of kids, it was always something lighter such as raking leaves or picking up litter for example. If you were a grown-up, it could have been any manual labor up to digging ditches. Saying just "no, I don't feel like doing that on Sunday" or not coming for a "deed" was not an option at all.  Absence brought unpleasant and inconvenient repercussions both at school and in one's workplace as it was seen as politically suspicious/antisocial.

 

School handbooks (including history books) presented the content according to the ruling (Soviet government-related) socialist party. Some high school history teachers dared to teach history and facts which were omitted/changed in the handbooks. Not often it happened, though. Why? Such teachers were arrested shortly after a daring class and that was the end of their teaching careers.

All in all, life was as it was. Of course, there were positives as well, and despite the fact that many goods were hard to come by*, we did try to enjoy the lives we had as much as people in other places in the world. However, perhaps all those limitations/circumstances of the time were a reason why line dance never got popular in Poland.

Dallas International Festival, some years ago

 

* Including white plain T-shirts which parents had to get for their kids for the school sports gear - no, schools did not provide that. By the way, I am thinking of writing more about the school system in Poland which is different from the one in the US. Well, in case you are interested.

Credits: Video shared by K. Gilligan

D for Domino

Domino games are quite popular in the Hill Country. They are played in every community. Especially 42.

I first learned about the 42 game a few years ago when I was doing my ancestry research. It appeared our aunts played the game as well. When they were young, they were involved in a lot of social, charitable, and church-related activities. In connection with that, their names were often mentioned in the social column of the local newspaper. One of such entries informed that our aunt Victoria won every game (out of 14) played during the local 42 tournament (1916), "which was something never done before (...)" (1). At the time when I read the old newspaper, I had no idea what that 42 was, I had to look it up.

Where I grew up adults and teenagers did not play dominoes. They played cards. Dominoes were left to the kids, who played the most simplified domino game only. It was matching the dots, with no score counting. The rules of the game were not complicated: the person who got rid of all the tiles the fastest won the game. Anyway, adults played cards only. No wonder then I had not heard of 42 or chicken foot.

I am not sure whether I am ready to learn how to play 42. Well, I would rather visit with people than focus on the game and counting the score only.

During our visit to the Czech Museum in La Grange, we came across the exact same type of domino set our Texas parents had owned (see above).

1. The Plano Star-Courier (Plano, Tex.), Vol. 27, No. 51, Ed. 1 Friday, May 26, 1916, newspaper, May 26, 1916; Plano, Texas. (texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth601588/: accessed June 5, 2018), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Collin County Genealogical Society.