Update 11/19/2020: This PHA fundraiser was quite successful despite the coronavirus discouraging people from attending.  Sixteen people showed up to don different folk costume attires and to get their pictures with different backdrops. The event raised about $300 for the folk dancing groups. Paulina and Maciej are very grateful to everybody who came in and supported the dancers!

If you could not come or stayed at home due to the pandemic, you can still support the dancers from home by visiting the Seattle Polish Foundation website donations page. All donations are tax deductible.

The Polish Home Association invites you to a photoshoot session at the Polish Cultural Center to make a Christmas card picture of your family in Polish folk costumes! PHA provides a set of costumes you can choose from, both for the children and grownups in the family and a photographer to take a professional quality pictures. When you come, you will have time to change into a costume and then take a picture.

This photoshoot is a PHA fundraiser gathering funds for an initial set of costumes for a new adult Polish folk dance group at the Polish Home, complementing the existing Young Polanie group. The goal is to raise $8000 for the purchase of authentic, professionally made Polish folk costumes, both for the children and adult groups. The fundraiser is organized by Paulina Phung and Maciej Smusz.

The initiative to create the new group came from M. Smusz, an accomplished Polish folk dance group animator and leader who moved to Seattle earlier this year. At the 2019 Polish Festival at the Seattle Center you might have seen great performances by the dance ensemble Karpaty that he founded in Salt Lake City in 2015. Maciej started to dance in Chicago, and before Utah he also taught Polish folk dances in Medinah, IL. He is also on the Board of Directors for the Polish Folk Dance Association of the Americas where he helps coordinate folk dance workshops and provide resources and materials for dance groups. We are really lucky and very happy to have Maciej Smusz as part of our local Polish community. Welcome and good luck with the new dance ensemble in Seattle!

To make a reservation go to eventbrite page for this event to choose a time slot and obtain a reservation ticket.

A suggested donation for a photo session is $25, which is an incredible bargain, so don’t hesitate to open your wallet wider and contribute more to support the new group. All donations will be acknowledged for the tax benefit by the Seattle Polish Foundation (SPF). You can also write a check to SPF with a note “folk dance ensemble” and send it the Polish Home.

More: Karpaty Dance Ensemble website, Karpaty on facebook