For the young people, the period of
studying at the university was not the time of intensive work and studies only,
but also the time of hectic development of social life. Students organized
assemblies, friendly meetings, went to theaters, cinema, and football matches.
Occasionally they met in popular Lviv places (for example, in the coffeehouses Roma on ul. Akademicka, 25 and Szkocka on ul. Akademicka,27 (now prosp.
Shevchenka). Going to the coffeehouses was associated with considerable
expenses, so the Society of Fraternal Help of the Jan Kazimierz University
arranged a tea house on ul. Łozińskiego, 7 (now vul. Hertsena). It also organized the solemn Vigil
and Easter breakfast for those students who could not afford going home on
holidays through lack of appropriate finances. A special kind of student
activities in the sphere of friendly life was the organization of dance balls
and parties.
Mostly, students arranged their
presentation balls in winter, in January or February. Dance parties often took
place in the halls of the City Casino and the Literary and Artistic Circle on
the lively Akademicka street (now prosp. Shevchenka, 13) or in the hall of the
Officer Courses (pol. Ognisko Oficerskie)
on ul. Fredra, 1. Both these buildings were located in the immediate city
center, not far from the university buildings and dormitories. Stanisław Herbst, a Polytechnic student, recalled that in his student days
they also used to go to parties arranged in the building of Count Skarbek (the
Zankovetska Theater), in the Sokoł building
(now vul. Dudayeva, 8) and on ul. Łozińskiego (now Hertsena). A large dancing hall was also in the 2nd
House of Technicians on ul. Abrahamowiczów, 14 (now the hostel of the National University of Lviv Polytechnic
on vul. Boy-Zhelenskoho, 14). Sometimes dance balls were also organized in the
premises of higher educational institutions (for example, in February 1931, law
students arranged a rout in the presentation rooms of the Jan Kazimierz
University's rectorate). Premises for the arrangement of parties was also
leased by the Academic Reading Room, which offered its services usually for a
payment. Sometimes student organizations did not have the funds to pay the
bill. This was the case with the Lviv Academic Choir, which, organizing a dance
party on March 19 (St. Joseph's Feast), did not receive the expected profit.
Dance balls were also arranged by popular
associations of Ukrainian students, such as the "Medical Community"
(which hosted the popular "Ball of Physicians" for the first time as
early as 1911) or the Student Community. To brighten up the time for students,
they invited popular orchestras, which at that time included the Jabcio. In the 1930s, dance parties,
which were organized typically on Saturday in the hall of the Society Sokil on ul. Ruska, 20, were popular among
young Ukrainians. There were also dance courses there. The young people
representing the Russophile trend and united in the association Drug, willingly arranged parties in the
hall of the Ruthenian casino on ul. Rutowskiego, 22 (now vul. Teatralna).
It happened that a dance ball organized by
student youth was attended by people outside of their circle. The ticket for
the latter was twice as expensive as for students. The organization of parties
and dance evenings took a lot of time and was associated with the need to
resolve numerous formalities (including at least obtaining consent from the Tax
Chamber for the sale of alcohol during the party); besides, it was a
significant source of profit for many academic societies. The funds collected
in this way were intended for the development of individual academic
institutions or student housing resources. According to these principles, on 24
November 1927 the Adam Mickiewicz dormitory administration organized the Great
Dance Party, whose profits were assigned to renovate the dormitory. In a
similar way, funds were collected by the students of the Jan Kazimierz
University, who, through the organization of parties, were looking for
financial means for building the Female Students' House on ul. Torosiewicza, 36
(now vul. Studentska, 2). It is worth noting that, in addition to dance balls
and parties, an important academic initiative, which served to collect money
for students' needs, was the annual organization of the Academician Week (which
lasted for about 10 days every year), during which young people arranged routs,
concerts, lotteries, theatrical and film performances.
Often, dance balls and parties took place
under the patronage of scientists and professors of the University. On 14 April
1923 the "All-Polish Youth" organized the Great Spring Rout under the
patronage of Stanisław Grabski, Jan
Rozwadowski, and Leonard Stahl. The teachers themselves also happened to
participate in dance balls organized by students. Probably, a frequent guest,
eagerly invited by female students, was mathematician Stefan Banach.
Often it was in the text of invitations
that organizers announced what clothes should be worn when attending their
dance ball. It could be both a dress for solemn occasions and a suit or a mask.
Leon Kaltenberg, a writer and student of the humanities faculty at the Jan
Kazimierz University, later recalled Tadeusz Niedźwiedzki, one of the "eternal students", who for many years
"wintered" at the University and, therefore, knew all junior
researchers and was invited to assistants' dance balls. A legend, popular in
the student circles, was a case with Niedźwiedzki who sold his coat to buy white gloves specifically for a
dance ball. Kaltenberg then wrote about him: "And what to do with such a softhead,
who was going to wear his summer coat for the rest of the winter which was not
too mild in that year?". Buying a proper outfit, as well as participating
in dance balls, was a privilege of wealthier students; that is why those who
happened to go to a lecture just after the late night party, were looked at in
an unfriendly manner.
