Grażyna Kuklińska

Ballet pianist

She graduated from The Fryderyk Chopin State Higher School of Music in Warsaw, Branch in Białystok, Instrumental Department, in the piano class of Prof. J. Borzym. For almost 14 years, she worked as music director at the A. Węgierka Dramatic Theatre in Białystok. She has always been interested in ballet, character dances, including folk dances, and stage movement. Since 1972 she has been involved in ballet accompaniment, initially developing her skills working at the State Ballet Center in Białystok, accompanying the renowned dancers Tamara and Cyryl Januszkowski – founders of Choreographic Studio in Białystok. She also preformed as a dancer in the ‘Kurpie Zielone‘ Song and Dance Ensemble in Białystok, later she became the ensemble’s accompanist, a position she holds to this day. She worked for several years in Studio di Danza Classica and Vic Ballet School in Verona. Attending numerous workshops, including one in Koszęcin home of the’Śląsk’, Song and Dance Ensemble she collaborated with remarkable choreographers from across Europe, as well as with teachers from all ballet schools in Poland. She accompanied diploma exams in Italy, working with choreographers from Royal Dance Academy in London. Since 2013, she has collaborated with the OiFP as a ballet pianist. She is the author of two songbooks ‘Jestem sobie Podlasianka’ (I Am a Podlasian Woman) and ‘Na Podlasiu byłem’ (I Was in Podlasie), which are used in schools in the Podlasie region. For several years, she has served as a juror at the S. Jopek International Vocal Competition organized by the ‘Mazowsze’ Song and Dance Ensemble.