Alina started dancing at the age of three doing tap, jazz, and ballet at a local studio in Brooklyn Park, MN, but didn’t realize what she was missing until she joined Słoneczniki at the age of five. Since then, she hasn’t stopped polkaing.
As a Minnesota native with Polish roots, Alina’s family was very involved in her local Polonia growing up. Since dancing with Słoneczniki, Alina has progressed through Chabry, and now dances with the Dolina Polish Folk Dancers. With Dolina, Alina has traveled and performed all across the Midwest, Canada, Hungary, and Poland. In 2014 Alina began attending 4-letnie Polonijne Studium Choregraficzne, a four year choreographer’s course in Rzeszów, Poland. She has since graduated and is now teaching, directing, and choreographing for the Dolina Family.
Since beginning her choreography studies, Alina has directed Sloneczniki and is currently directing Chabry. She loves sharing her passion for folk dance with our youth, and hopes to instil a similar drive and fire while making dancing fun.
Since being introduced to folk dance through Dolina, Alina has also danced with The Ethnic Dance Theatre since 2012 and performed with Schuplattler Gruppe Edelweiss for several years. Alina has performed songs and dances from cultures all over the world, including Albania, Appalachia, Armenia, Austria, Bosnia, Croatia, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Hutsul, Italy, Latvia, Mexico, Mongolia, North Macedonia, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Rusin, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
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