Pamiętnik Teatralny (Dec 2003)
Katarzyna z Fröhlichów Bogusławska
Abstract
The author undertakes to reconstruct the biography of Katarzyna Fröhlich (1811–1886), a graduate of the Warsaw Ballet School, who honed her talent under the tutelage of Julia Mierzyńska at Warsaw’s Teatr Wielki [Grand Theatre]. She lists the dancer’s performances, including solo parts, and cites the favourable press reviews of the “solo mazur” from the ballet Wesele polskie w Ojcowie [The Polish Wedding in Ojców]. She emphasizes the vital social function of the ballet school: poor, illiterate families chose it for their children as an opportunity to learn a profession without teaching fees and acquire social capital. She notes that Fröhlich-Bogusławska’s decision to end her career as a ballet dancer resulted from her getting married. Since the autumn of 1834, she focused on her household. Her motherhood was marked by tragedy: her son Ludwik died as a child, and the other son Władysław was exiled to Siberia. Władysław survived to become a theatre critic, and his sister Zofia became a music teacher. Drawing on previously unknown sources, the author of the article verifies the date of Fröhlich-Bogusławska’s death and restores the memory about her dancing career, faded in the course of her long life.
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