Polonez

On Monday, I had a pleasure to teach classes 8b & 8c one of the 5 Polish national dances -  polonaise (polonez).

Polonaise goes back to the 16th century. It originated as a war triumphal dance. From the 17th to 19th century, it was widely used as a ceremonial dance or formal march on various occasions. Till now, polonaise in Poland is an opening dance for all sorts of official events and balls.

The closing scene from "Pan Tadeusz" (Sir Thaddeus, or the Last Lithuanian Foray)

- a screen version of Polish epic poem by Adam Mickiewicz

Polonaise as the opening of STUDNIOWKA (a senior prom).

Polonaise is a really slow dance performed in 3/4 time. That is why, it is sometimes called a walking dance. For each time measure there are three gliding steps. The first is long and marked with bending a knee. Then follow two short steps and the long one all . 

One (bend), two, three. One (bend), two, three. One (bend), two, three...

Figuring out new figures.