Dance Night is one of the most vibrant traditions of the KODY Festival – an open gathering dedicated to traditional music and social dancing. It is an invitation to step onto the dance floor, to spin and move together to the rhythms of old melodies, and to experience music in its most natural setting: through movement, shared energy, and collective joy.

This year’s dance party will sound in two voices. The Podróżniacy Orchestra and Kapela Kotra will take turns leading the dance floor, alternating their sets and bringing together two different yet intersecting musical traditions. On one side, the youngest brass band from the Roztocze region of Poland revives the repertoire once played by village wedding bands: polkas, obereks, waltzes, tangos and foxtrots. On the other, a Vilnius-based international trio reaches into archival melodies from Belarus, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, combining traditional string textures with the vibrant energy of dance music.

The dance floor thus becomes a meeting place for the musical traditions of Central and Eastern Europe – from Roztocze brass band music to archival string repertoires connected with the cultural landscapes of the region. Dance Night is above all a shared musical experience, one that fully comes alive when musicians and dancers create a single, moving pulse together.

Performers:

Podróżniacy Orchestra (PL)

The youngest brass band from the Roztocze region of Poland, founded in 2023 at the Traditional Music Centre in Zdziłowice run by the Piszczałka Foundation. The ensemble performs the traditional dance repertoire of Roztocze – obereks, polkas, podróżniaks, waltzes, tangos and foxtrots once played at village weddings.

The orchestra consists of 21 young musicians aged 9–15 who, despite only a few years of playing experience, passionately cultivate the musical traditions of their region. The group has performed at festivals such as Wszystkie Mazurki Świata in Warsaw and Re:Tradycja in Lublin, and received the Special Prize at the National Festival of Folk Bands and Singers in Kazimierz (2024).

Their debut album “Chodźwa!” was released in 2025 in cooperation with Polish Radio and the Cross-Cultural Creative Initiatives Centre ROZDROŻA.

Kapela Kotra (BY / AU)

Kapela Kotra is a Vilnius-based trio performing traditional instrumental and vocal music from Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland for listening and dancing. The ensemble works with repertoire preserved in early twentieth-century field recordings, arranging these melodies in a way that preserves their historical character while presenting them in a vibrant contemporary interpretation. A central focus of the group’s work is the research and revival of Litvak musical traditions from present-day Belarus, preserved in the ethnomusicological archives of Sofia Magid, Susman Kiselgof and Ina Nazina.

Since forming in 2025, the band has performed widely across Europe, including festivals such as KlezmerWelten (Germany), Skamba Skamba Kankliai (Lithuania) and Népszínház Járdafesztivál (Hungary). In 2025 Kapela Kotra was Artist-in-Residence at Yiddish Summer Weimar, and in March 2026 the group released its debut album “Zialony Haj.”

Cast:
Morgan Maruthiah – violin
Alena Kandyba – cello
Katsiaryna Hil – cimbalom