Mazurka
The mazurka is a Polish dance in triple metre that stylises folk dances from Mazovia, the plain around Warsaw; the name comes from the region's inhabitants, the Mazurs. Its hallmark is a strong accent placed unpredictably on the second or third beat. The dance mixes walking with leaps, gliding steps, heel clicks and stamps, with lively improvised hand and head gestures.
Its origin is debated; some scholars link it to sixteenth-century after-dances. In the early 1800s, in the Congress Kingdom of Poland, it became the leading ballroom dance. Composers blended rhythms of the mazur, the slow kujawiak and the fast oberek, and Chopin wrote 59 mazurkas, helping the form spread through nineteenth-century European salons. Local mazurka traditions survive in places such as Donegal in Ireland.
Sources
Organisations connected with this dance
- Narodowy Instytut Muzyki i Tańca (National Institute of Music and Dance)
- Państwowy Zespół Ludowy Pieśni i Tańca «Mazowsze» (Mazowsze State Folk Song and Dance Ensemble)
- Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina (Fryderyk Chopin Institute)
Listed as references; being listed is not an endorsement by or of the organisation.