Country: Finland
Type: couple dance
Formation: couples in open circle, W on partner's R side, waltz hold, facing in LOD.
Steps:
masurkka,
juoksu (run),
valssi (waltz)
Sheet music:
(1) Askolin, Erica/ Seura- ja juhlatansseja: nuotisto. Porvoo: Kansantanssinuorten Liitto ry, 2012. p.45.
(2) Folktunefinder.com varsovienne
[Same tune used in
Finland,
Norway,
Sweden and parts of
Denmark.]
Recordings:
Pelimannikilta Juhla- ja salonkitansseja track 28;
Folk Dance Orchestra, Victor Olof Scandinavian Dances 1939 [Internet Archive];
Gunnar Hahns Folkdansorkester Nordiska danser track 08;
Michael Herman's Folk Orchestra [Internet Archive];
National Folk Dance Players European national dances 'Varsovienne' [YouTube]
| Bars | Part | Dance progression: |
| 1-2 | (a) | 'Promenade': Beginning with outside (ML/WR) foot, M swings partner over to his
L side (1). M steps back to accomodate W's crossing, while W turns CCW in front of partner.
Both finish with outside (MR/WL) foot diagonally forward to floor (2:1). |
| 3-4 | Repeat with opposite footwork to swing partner to M's R side, as above. W turning CW. | |
| 5-8 | Repeat (a). | |
| 9-12 | (b) | Masurkka: Beginning with outside (ML/WR) foot, couples dance 2 masurkka steps forward in LOD (9-10), followed by M swinging partner over to his L side [ie repeat of bars 1-2] (11-12). |
| 13-16 | [Beginning with outside (MR/WL) foot,] couples dance 2 masurkka steps forward in LOD (13-14), followed by M swinging partner back to his R side [ie repeat of bars 3-4] (15-16). | |
| 17-32 | (c) | Waltz: Couples take waltz hold and dance turning waltz steps [moving in LOD]. |
| [Repeat from (a) as desired]. |
Provenance: Seemingly unrelated to the Baroque dance of the 1600-1700s, of the same name, described in Feuillet notation in
the 1704 Recueil de dances contenant un tres grand nombres,
des meilleurs entrées de ballet de Mr Pécour, ... [pp.10-19, 176-194].
The earliest published music appears to be in:
Dannström, Isidore/
Theorie Complete De La Mazurka with sheet music for La Varsovienne and La Suédoise. (Mazurkas favorites, no. 2) Paris: Heugel, 1844
The earliest description, a quadrille dance, appears to be in:
Laborde, Corralli, E. Coulon (dance), Jullien (music)/ (c. 1845).
The Celebrated Mazurka and the Cellarius Waltz accompanying sheet music for The Original Mazurka. London: Jullien, [ca 1845].
The varsovienne as a couple dance is discussed in: Eugène Coulon/
The Warsaw Varsoviana. London: Louis Antoine Jullien,(c. 1855).
According to Böhme, "'Varsovienne' or 'Warschauer Tanz' (dance from Warsaw), a variant of masurka, also played in slow
3/4-time, was very popular in Germany around 1850-1870."
Nordstedts uppslagsbok 1948 ed,. defines it as "a mazurka-like couple dance in 3/4 time, modern in
France during the Second French Empire [Napoleon III, 1852-1870] [and] in Sweden during the 1860s.
Appears as a 'new' couple dance in Russia in 1897.
In the Nordic countries, it ccurs in
Denmark,
Finland,
Norway and
Sweden
as well as the Faroe Islands and Iceland.
Printed source:
Mäkelä, Sinikka, Erja Askolin & Matti Lankinen/ Seura- ja juhlatansseja: koti- ja
ulkomaisia seuratansseja sekä juhla- ja salonkitansseja. Porvoo: Kansantanssinuorten Liitto ry, 2012. p.46.
See also:
-- Böhme, Franz Magnus/ Geschichte des Tanzes in Deutschland. Beitrag zur deutschen Sitten-, Litteratur-
und Musikgeschichte : nach den Quellen zum Erstenmal bearbeitet und mit alten Tanzliedern und Musikproben. Teil 1.
Leipzig: Druck und Verlag von Breitkopf & Härtel, 1886. p.223. .
-- Tanssi.net Varsovienne
-- 'Varsovienne' in: Nordstedts uppslagsbok 1948 ed. p. 1908
-- Wikipedia Varsovienne.
Description: Laine Ruus, Oakville, 2022-08-16, rev. 2023-08-14.
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