| “Amelka, do you want to become a reporter?” asked mum. “Pani Ernestyna asked if you could write something about the Newcastle trip with Lajkonik…” A reporter...? Um… I guess…? A quick brainstorm…. Trip to Newcastle…. What can I write about? It was a good day. It was a very good day. On Sunday morning we left Sydney very early. Mum made sure we got packed the night before, costumes and all to avoid rushing in the morning.
I planned to wake up at 5:00am with the sincere intention to cram some extra studies in the morning. I had just come back from a holiday in Poland and missed a lot of school so there is a lot of catching up to do. Well the alarm did go off at 5:00am (which I may have turned off and went back to sleep). Anyway… we left around 7:00 am.
The drive was pleasant. I was relaxing and was tempted to go back to sleep. Just when I was on the verge of dozing off… “Amelka… maybe you should go over that Psalm that you are going to sing at the Cathedral today.”
Psalm? Oh yeah, good idea. “Wait…, mum... what is ‘błotne grzęzawisko’…?”
We got to Newcastle after 9:00am. The Lajkonik troupe was already rehearsing in Dom Polski when we arrived there.
One of the dances for the concert was Sokoły. It was my first time performing this dance and I was not fully confident with the steps. The first run was terrible. I kept going the wrong direction and starting with the wrong foot. During the break, Monika and Marzena offered to help me with some of the steps. I was really grateful. It helped.
For the concert I was going to sing two folk songs so we needed to do a quick sound check. I was handed a cordless microphone (it was extremely sensitive) and given a set of instructions: “when running onto the stage, microphone off. Microphone on – start singing. Be careful how you hold it. Microphone off – start dancing. Microphone back on – keep singing. Microphone off…"
On, off, on, on, off… off. Yeah… I get it…. I… I think?
I was hoping to have one more run through the Sokoły dance but we couldn’t. We needed to start putting on our costumes and get ready for church.
As I was putting on the final touches onto my Lubelski costume, I suddenly heard: “Does anyone have a needle and thread? My dress ripped!” Nobody had a needle or thread. There was no time to fix it anyway. “How about some sticky tape?” Yeah… that will do the trick. Lucky that the dress came with a shawl that cleverly covered the problem.
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So off we went to the Cathedral, looking all glamorous and very Polish. We were invited to Newcastle to help celebrate Polish Soldier’s Day (Dzień Żołnierza).
In Poland, Soldier’s Day is a national holiday celebrated annually on the 15th of August. Thus, the mass in Newcastle opened with a parade of flags and banners. The flags were carried by Polish senior citizens, former soldiers. It was very special.
I really enjoyed singing the Psalm and Alleluja during the mass. The acoustics in the Cathedral were magnificent. Monika and Abigail did a great job with the Readings. Looking and sounding very majestic, Adam and Piotr presented Modlitwy Wiernych.
Back in Dom Polski, while the guests were having lunch, we were getting ready for the concert – fixing our costumes and makeup. We heard the guests commenting how delicious the lunch was, especially the soup. We got some sandwiches, they were nice too.
Then the concert began. We flew through the first few dances with plenty of adrenalin rush and heaps of smiles. Soon my turn came with the first song. As Pani Ula was introducing my item, vivaciously I grabbed the microphone in one hand, the rim of my skirt in the other and energetically proceeded towards the stage. Somehow, I managed to scrape my finger on something sticking out of the side of the stairs I was passing. I felt a sharp pain. Looking down, I saw that the finger started bleeding quite profusely. I clenched my fist tightly, hid my hand behind the apron of my skirt and ran on stage. The show must go on.
As soon as I started singing, I forgot all about the bleeding finger. By the way, the Sokoły dance went really well. We nailed it. Well done Jacob! Well done me! Go newbies!
A little wardrobe malfunction occurred later. Perhaps not many people noticed, but during one of the more energetic dance items, the straps of a dancer’s kierpce came undone. Her reaction was brisk and brilliant. She kicked the loose shoe with such force that it flew across the dance floor and landed under one of the tables. She didn’t miss a step. The show must go on.
We did a good job. Everybody loved it and we had a great time. And yes, we did get to try the soup at the end. It was really nice.
P.S
During the interval, as we were changing costumes, a lovely lady came up to me asking if I could put my first costume back on ‘just for a minute’ so that she could take a photo. I couldn’t. Sorry. There was no time. But I did promise her that we will be back and she will have the opportunity to take more photos of Lajkonik next time.
Trip to Newcastle with Lajkonik - torn dress, flying kierpce, bleeding finger and heaps of fun…
It was a good day. It was a very good day…
Amelka Gnatek
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