Kudos to Polonia Ensemble

A Big Thank You!

October 2007

To all the dancers, teachers and parents of Polonia,

Last night, I had the wonderful honor of having Polonia perform at my Library. As a Program Coordinator for many years, I have seen many, many groups come through our doors, but few have compared to Polonia! All the dancers arrived in plenty of time, even though they were traveling
out from Chicago in awful traffic. They quickly got into costume and were ready to go.

When they came out into our Meeting Room, there was a collective "aaahh" from the audience, who were charmed by their costumes and cheerful demeanor. I was very impressed that all the different "parts" of the group worked so well together. From the girls who narrated the program, to the various groups that came into the room right on cue, the evening was a huge success. All of the entrances and exits were flawless in their execution. The dancers were so talented and so charismatic that you couldn't help but get in the festive mood.

I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but in the past few years, Naperville's Polish community has grown greatly. Many of the people in our audience last night were of Polish descent, and I could see the joy on their faces as they watched these young people perform. After the show, every single patron stopped to make comments on how much they enjoyed the show. I always leave a Library evaluation form on every chair, and upon reviewing them this morning, it was clear that this was
one of the audience's all-time favorites. We are lucky in that we have a core group of people who attend these programs. They were all there last night, plus there were so many new faces. Hopefully, our programs hold wide appeal, and this one certainly passed the test.

I look forward to hosting your group again, and wish you continued success!

Best regards,

Mary J. Bannon

Public Programming Coordinator
Naperville Public Library

Text of a Letter from the Polish Ambassador in Lima Przemyslaw Marzec to Polonia Ensemble dated Sunday, August 27, 2006

Szanowni Państwo,

Z ogromną przyjemnością pragnę wyrazić wdzieczność wszystkich Polaków w Peru, w tym moją osobistą za wspaniałe chwile, które dane nam były wszystkim przeżyc podczas udanego tournee w Peru znanego na świecie Zespołu Pieśni i Tańca "Polonia".
Tournee, ktore rozpoczęło sie na początku sierpnia br. wzruszającym występem w polskiej ambasadzie w Limie utalentowanej artystycznie polonijnej młodzieży z Chicago pod kierownictwem tak zasłużonej osoby dla promocji polskiej kultury za granicą jak pani Cecylia Roznowska, a zakończyło podczas Miedzynarodowego Festiwalu Tańca Folklorystycznego "Festidanza" w Arequipie, gdzie również miałem honor podziwiać artystyczny kunszt młodzieży z Chicago, przeszło juz do historii polsko-peruwianskich relacji kulturalnych, zapisujac sie w niej najpiękniejszymi zgłoskami.
Niech mi będzie raz jeszcze dane podziękować polonijnym, młodym artystom, pani Cecylii Roznowskiej i wszystkim innym Polakom, wsród nich entuzjaście polsko- peruwianskiej współpracy panu Andrzejowi Pietowskiemu za to, co uczynili dla promocji polskiej kultury w Peru, czego dowodem bylo wzruszenie setek Polaków, ale i tysięcy Peruwianczyków podczas koncertów w Limie, Cuzco, Chivay i Arequipie. Dziękuje Panstwu wszystkim za to, co uczyniliście dla krzewienia bogatej polskiej kultury i polskich tradycji w Peru.

Przemysław Marzec

Ambasador RP w Limie