Polish Day reinvents Chopin classics

Poland celebrated its National Pavilion Day on May 22 by replaying Chopin works in new styles, including a rearranged rock and jazz version, an adapted song-and-dance performance and an arrangement for traditional Chinese instruments.

Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski attended the celebration ceremony.

Chinese musicians played some works by world-renowned composers using traditional Chinese instruments such as urheen, lute and koto. The program featured works by Chopin, Karlowicz, Paderewski and Moniuszko, as well as mazurkas and Polish folk songs.

The Expo Center auditorium also showed a 45-minute song-and-dance performance —— “Let's Dance Chopin.”

The Rozrywka modern dance group collaborated with noted director Piotr Jagielski to perform various dance styles, including solo and duo, ballet, modern dance and hip-hop, at the Europe Square.

Children could enjoy themselves on the National Pavilion Day, too. They played traditional Polish puzzle games and assembled jigsaw puzzles made from award-winning pictures in a Polish painting contest. A Polish dragon made of many shapes also interacted with the visitors.

The design of the Poland Pavilion, resembling a folded paper box, was inspired by its folk art: paper cut-outs. During the daytime, the exhibition hall is filled with light filtering through the patterns, and at night it shines with different colors from within.

Video: Huang Lan

Source: http://en.expo2010.cn