| The Folk Dance Ensemble "HARNAM" Zespół Tańca Ludowego "Harnam" | |
| Birth Date: | 1947 |
| Birth Place: | Łódź, Poland |
| Movement: | Folk |
| Website: | http://www.harnam.net/ |
HARNAM, The Folk Dance Ensemble "Harnam" (also The Representative Ensemble of The Łódź Voivodeship;[1] in Polish: Zespół Tańca Ludowego "Harnam") – is the eldest folk ensemble in Poland. It was established in 1947 by Jadwiga Hryniewiecka. Harnam meets in the Ludwik Geyer’s White Factory in Łódź.
Harnam was established by Szymon Harnam Textile Industrial Works No. 8 in Lodz. The first artistic director was Jadwiga Hryniewiecka and then her students: Sławomir Mazurkiewicz (1979-1990) and Maria Kryńska (1990-2008). In 1994 Maria Kryńska and Krzysztof Sitkowski founded a therapy studio for children and teenagers with Down syndrome and they worked until 2008. In 2012 Harnam and Krzysztof Sitkowski were awarded Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis. Krzysztof Sitkowski (a Jadwiga Hryniewiecka’s student) has been artistic director from 2012.
Folk Dance Ensemble Harnam shows authentic character of Polish folk dance adapted to principles of theatre. Dances are with stage dramatization.
Group OFF HARNAM has been working also since 2008. It combines folk motifs, legends and basic steps with modern dance. It is the first group which represents the style of Folk Jazz – a combination of Polish folk dance with Jazz dance.