Chicago is associated with 'Polish-style polka,' and its sub-styles including 'The Chicago Honky' (using clarinet and one trumpet) and 'Chicago Push' featuring the accordion, Chemnitzer and Star concertinas, upright bass or bass guitar, drums, and (almost always) two trumpets. In the United States, polka is promoted by the International Polka Association based in Chicago, which works to preserve the cultural heritage of polka music and to honor its musicians through the Polka Hall of Fame. Like the square dance, the polka also has many local variants: 'Віцебчанка, Viciebčanka', 'Барысаўская, Barysaŭskaja', 'Ганкоўская, Hankoŭskaja', and the names were also given according to the peculiarities of the choreography: 'Through the leg', 'With a podkindes', 'With squats', 'On the heel', 'Screw' and others. Polka demanded from the dancers both skill and physical endurance.

The dance is decorated with a variety of small pas, often accompanied by chastushkae.īelarusian polkas are extremely rich in their choreographic and musical patterns, they are distinguished by great modal and intonation diversity. Most often in Belarus, the polka is performed in pairs, moving half a step with turns in a circle. So, for example, ' Trasucha' ( Belarusian: 'Трасуха', 'Trasucha' or 'Пацяруха', 'Paciaruchais') a symbol of a typical folk dance, from which it got its name, and polka. The 2/4 meter polka merged well with the Belarusian traditional dance, which had a similar meter. The ease of penetration of the polka into Belarusian choreography is due to its certain proximity to Belarusian national choreographic traditions. In different regions, local variants arose, which assimilated with local choreographic folklore and became popular. Having entered the life of the Belarusians, it was transformed into the national spirit. Although the polka is a borrowed dance, close to Belarusian folk choreography, it has been greatly transformed in the National plan, while having a strong influence on other dances. In the 1850s, the polka was expanded among Belarusians. There are various styles of contemporary polka besides the original Czech dance, which is still the chief dance at any formal or countryside ball in the Czech Republic. Polka rhythm People dancing polka in Tampere, Finland in 2006 ( January 2018) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. This section needs additional citations for verification. It remained a popular ballroom dance in America, especially with growing Central, Northern, and Eastern European immigrant groups until the late 19th century. It was so well received in Paris that its popularity was referred to as 'polkamania.' The dance soon spread to London in 1844, where it was considered highly fashionable, and was also introduced to America. From there, it spread to classical music hub Vienna by 1839, and in 1840 was introduced in Paris by Johaan Raab, a Prague dance instructor. īy 1835, this dance had spread to the ballrooms of Prague. Historians believe the polka evolved as a quicker version of the waltz, and associate the rapid bourgeoning in popularity of the polka across Europe in the mid-1800s with the spread of the Romantic movement, which emphasized an idealized version of peasant culture. Some versions of this origin story placed the first polka as being danced in Hradec Kralove, while others claimed it occurred in the village of Labska Tynica. The dance was further propagated by Neruda, who put the tune to paper and taught other young men to dance it.

As told by Čeněk Zíbrt, the music teacher Josef Neruda noticed her dancing in an unusual way to accompany a local folk song called ' Strýček Nimra koupil šimla', or 'Uncle Nimra Bought a White Horse' in 1830. The polka's origin story first appears in the periodical Bohemia in 1844, in which it was attributed to a young Bohemian woman named Anna Slezáková (born Anna Chadimová). The word was widely introduced into the major European languages in the early 1840s. Czech cultural historian Čeněk Zíbrt also attributes the term to the Czech word půlka (half), referring to both the half-tempo 2Ĥ and the half-jump step of the dance. The term polka referring to the dance is derived from the Czech word Polka meaning 'Polish woman' (feminine form corresponding to Polak, a Pole). History Etymology Street musicians in Prague playing a polka Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic.

Pizzicato polka op. 234