| Dance progression | ||
| Promenade | ||
| [The sources contain no description of promenade part. Grüner Nielsen suggests there may not have been one.] | ||
| Description of the polonaise step | ||
| Man's step: beginning facing in LOD, step L foot firmly forward, with a strong CW turn (1); R foot behind L, followed by a quick, almost non-existent step on the L foot (2); step forward with R foot (3). With these 3 steps dance one full turn CW, so as to be facing in the LOD again.
Woman's step: R foot slightly forward, followed immediately by L foot very quickly beside R (1); R foot firmly on the floor diagonally forward (2); step L foot forward (3). The turn continues with 1 polonaise step for each bar of music, moving in LOD. Towards the end of the tune, it was common to increase the tempo. As the tempo increased, M often skipped over the little change step on the L foot. When being taught currently, the polonaise step is often described as 'walk plus chassé' (change step). M starts with walk followed by a chassé step; W starts with chassé followed by walk. On Thy, it is described as either (a) a omtrædningstrin (change step) followed by a svejtrin (pivot step) or (b) a svejtrin followed by an omtrædningstrin and may be danced turning CW or CCW [see Jacobsen & Thofte below]. |
| Basic | Alternative (eg. Thy) | |||||
| Beat | Note | Man's step | Woman's step | Note | Man's step | Woman's step |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♩ | L | R-L | ♩ | L-R | R-L |
| 2 | ♫ | R-L | R | ♫ | L | R |
| 3 | ♩ | R | L | ♫ | R | L |
| 1 | ♩ | L | R-L | ♩ | L-R | R-L |
| 2 | ♫ | R-L | R | ♫ | L | R |
| 3 | ♩ | R | L | ♫ | R | L |
| etc. | ||||||
See videos with CW turn Habadekuk plays Viggo Post - Jysk på Næsen 2010, 'Jydsk polemeie' Onsdagsspillemædene fra Rebild 2023, and with CCW turn Karl Skaarup Four without Karl Skaarup (Thybal).
Provenance: polonaise, the Danish pols/polska dances, dates to the 1700s, at which time the music was either in 2/4 time or 3/4 time. [see Grüner Nielsen below].
Source: Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme (FFF)/ Gamle danse fra Hardsyssel. 2:e opl. København: Foreningen til Folkdansens Fremme, 1998, p. 17.
See also:
-- Grüner Nielsen, H./ Folkelig vals: sønderhoningdans, fannikedans, Manøsk brudedans,
vip, sæt over, Jysk polonæse, springfort, svejtrit, med melodibilag. København: Det Schønbergske
Forlag, 1920. pp.73-76 & music appendix nrs. 103-106.
-- Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme (FFF)/ Beskrivelse af gamle Danske folkedanse hefte II.
6:e opl. København: Foreningen til Folkdansens Fremme, 1995, p. 5.
-- Hamborg, Svend/
Beskrivelser & noder til Thydanse [vol.] II. [Thisted]: Thy Spillemandslaug, 1985. pp. 6, 33.
-- Jacobsen, Jack & Gitte Thofte/ Thybal - en spillemandsbog.
s.l.:Folkekulturværkstedet Broby gamle skole, 2008. pp. 71-73.
-- Hanson, Lida Saboni & Laura Wolcott Goldsmith (trans.)/ 'polonaise' in:
Old Danish folk dances described by the Association for the Promotion of Folk Dances (Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme).
Copenhagen: Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme, 1906. p.17.
-- Burchenal, Elizabeth (trans.)/ 'jydsk på næsen (polonaise)' in: Folk dances of Denmark, containing
seventy-three dances.... New York, NY: G. Schirmer, 1915. p. 70.
Translation: Laine Ruus, Oakville, 2014-08-27, rev. 2023-07-31.
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