EN
In the time of the loss of Polish statehood in 1772 to 1918 years, five dances: polonaise, mazur, cracovienne that is to say krakowiak, oberek and kujawiak gained the status of Polish national dances. Their unprecedented cultural function greatly contributed to the salvation of the tradition and to preservation of the national memory. In those days, Polish national dances constituted not only social, educational and artistic functions but they also integrated the society, and together with the music, literature, theatre, fine arts, architecture, learning, education and philosophy influenced patriotic attitudes and sustained the sense of national bond. National dance can be considered the instrument for the building of the sensibility which contributed to the surviving of the nation and to the preserving of national identity. Being an antidote to the cares and apprehensions, the dance constituted an acceptance of live, gave the hope for the recovery of the sovereignty and played unusually important role in the process of the cultivation and preservation of native culture.