ii POLONAISE STORY OF A DANCE iii POLONAISE STORY OF A DANCE R. Ćwięka - Skrzyniarz iv v POLONEZA CZAS ZNOWU ZACZĄĆ vi Dedicated to the Idea of Poland and to the Ideals of the Old Rzeczpospolita vii PART I THE HISTORY 1. THE EARLIEST RECORDS 1 i Foreign Sources 2 ii Early Polish Dance Records 7 2. POLISH SOCIETY AND THE SZLACHTA 9 i Szlachta Values, Virtues And Behavior 11 ii The Szlachta Values In Reality 31 3. SZLACHTA DRESS 39 4. FOREIGN DANCE INFLUENCES OF THE 17TH CENTURY 70 i A Native Origin And 17th Century Descriptions 74 5. THE POLISH WALKING DANCE OF THE 18TH CENTURY 78 i At The Beginning Of The 18th Century 78 ii The Second Stage (1730s-1760s) 87 iii The Third Stage (1764-1799) 95 6. IN THE 19TH CENTURY 115 7. 19TH CENTURY OPINIONS AND IDEAS ABOUT THE DANCE 151 i Some German Dance Manuals 160 ii The Polish Dance Manuals 168 8. IN THE 20TH CENTURY 173 9. IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 190 i The Russian Dance Manuals 215 10. CONCLUSION 233 11. CHODZONY 235 12. WORKS CITED 237 PART II THE WORKBOOK 1. THE DANCE MOVEMENTS 250 i Abbreviations 251 ii Polish Vocabulary 252 2. INTRODUCTORY MOVEMENT NOTES 252 viii 3. THE GENERALIZED TANIEC POLSKI 253 i Body Position, Arms And Hands 253 ii Head 258 iii Bows 258 iv The “Staropolski Ukłon” 258 v Preliminary Movements For The Bows 260 vi The Removal of the Hat (And Arm Motions) 260 vii Hänsel’s Hat Removal 260 viii The Actual Bowing! 263 ix Foot and Leg Movements 272 x Preparation Exercises 273 xi Men’s And Women’s Steps 274 xii Newer Stage Version Of The Staropolska Body Movement For Men 276 xiii The Staropolska Body Movement For Men And Women 277 xiv Verbal-Attitudual Practice For The Taniec Polski 279 xv Dance Figures 280 4. THE ROCOCO-POLONAISE OR CLASSICAL POLONAISE 283 i Couple Positions 283 ii Arm Positions And Motions 283 iii Woman’s Arm Position 285 iv Ukłons (Bows) 286 iv Man’s Hat Removal 286 v Some Possible Historical Rococo-Polonaise Bows And Bowing 287 vi Man’s Rococo-Polonaise Bows 288 vii Woman’s Rococo-Polonaise Courtesy 291 viii Foot, Leg movements And Steps 294 ix A Supposed Source For The Historical Rococo-Polonaise Steps 294 x The Basic Rococo-Polonaise Step 298 xi Some Auxiliary Steps 300 xii Dance Figures 302 5. THE UŁAŃSKI POLONEZ OR UŁAŃSKI POLONAISE 307 i Couple Position 307 ii Bows 308 iii Man’s Bows 308 iv Woman’s Bows 310 v Foot, Leg Movements And Steps 313 vi Dance Figures 314 6. HISTORICAL SOURCES OF THE BASIC STEP 315 i Comparsion Table 329 ii Hänsel’s Other Steps 330 7. HISTORICAL SOURCES OF UKŁONS (BOWS) 334 8. THE CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL BALLROOM POLONEZ 338 ix i Some Basic Step Variant Reminders 338 ii Some Bow Variant Reminders 340 9. THE POLONEZ STAGE VERSIONS 342 i Arm Movements 342 ii Men’s And Women’s Basic Steps 344 iii Couple Dancing Elements, Motifs, And Combinations 346 iv Stage Couple Positions 346 v Arm Movements 347 vi Bows 347 vii Advanced Motifs, Fragments And Combinations 359 10. CONCLUSION: VARIATIONS OF THE BASIC STEP 367 i The Men’s “Staropolska” Version—Posuwisty 367 ii Newer Stage Version Of The Staropolska Movement For Men 368 iii “Just A Walk” 368 iv The Basic Rococo-Polonasie Step 369 v Ułański 369 vi Social Ballroom 370 Variant D “Most Elegant Polonez Variant Of Them All”—Part I Variant E “Most Elegant Polonez Variant Of Them All”—Part II Variant F “Just A More Elegant Walk” vii Ballet Stage Version 373 11. THE ŻYWIECKIAN POLONEZES 374 i Some Background Information on the Żywiec Dances 375 12. POLONEZ CALOWANY 376 i Elements of the Dance 378 ii Steps 378 iii The Dance 378 13. POLONEZ ŻYWIECKI 380 i Elements of the Dance 381 ii Steps 383 iii Bows 383 iv Dance Figures 384 14. WORKS CITED 386 x To The Lovers’ Of Beauty In An Age Of Vulgarity, Incivility And Aesthetic Ignorance, This Book Is Dedicated xi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book was an outgrowth of our first volume, The Great Polish Walking Dance, published in 1983. The first book began in 1969 as a mere collection of dance steps. As that collection grew, it became necessary to apply analytic principles to the material and also to take a Historical approach. This work continued and expanded into the present new volume. From 1971 to 1977 twenty-five months were spent doing research in Poland. These research trips were funded by the Kościuszko Foundation of New York City and the Polish People via the Polish Government. The author's first researches were done under the auspices of Dr. G. Dąbrowska of the Polish Institute of Arts and Science. In the realm of Stage Dance, words of thanks must be given to the managements of the Wielki Teatr and Operetta of Warszawa and to the Operetta of Kraków. Individual dancers who were helpful were Jan Kliński and Ryszard Krawucki. Special thanks must be given to the choreographer, Witold Gruca, of the Teatr Wielki. Professor Kopyciński of the Polish Character Ballet Company deserves much praise from us, as does Hanna Chojnacka of the State Ballet School of Warszawa. In Kraków thanks are given to Jacek Heczko for both his dance information and friendship. The Polonia Society for Relations Abroad must be cited for providing special assistance in the matter of amateur dance groups and dance courses. Maria Romowicz is to be acknowledged for her help with the dances of the Żywiec area. New researches began on the present volume after 1985 or so and has continued since then. For this a new set of acknowledgments are in order. My special thanks go to Dr. J. Pudełek of Warszawa for placing me in contact with Miss J. Shibilski of Warszawa, Poland who obtained and translated some of my first Russian language sources. Subsequent efforts led to the acquistion of more Russian material. Many libraries, regional and national, throughout Europe supplied me with both primary and secondary source materials. I thank them all. The most important material came from the following institutions: The National Library of Russia, Biblioteka Narodowa of Warszawa, Museum Narodowa of Warszawa, Museum Czartoryski of Kraków, Jagiellonska University Library of Kraków, Staatabibliothek Zu Berlin Preussischer Kulturbesitz, New York Public Library, Princeton University Library, Columbia University Library, and the Inter-Library Loan Departments of the Newark Public Library and of Essex County College. Several illustrations came from the library of the Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii Nauk of Warszawa and the Staats-und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden. The Center For Academic Technology of Seton Hall University and the Computer Information Services Department of Essex County College also aided in our work. We are grateful to Dance Horizons Publishing for permission to reproduce part of their edition of Rameau’s, The Dancing Master. Additional interesting material, 19th century German manuals, were donated by R. Powers in 1997 and by Hannahlore Unfried in 2005. It has not always been possible to contact copyright owners in works quoted in the book. We will be pleased to make appropriate acknowledgement in any future edition. 2002 R. Cwieka 5 Manor Drive, 15M Newark, N. J. 07106 U. S. A. ISBN 0-915277-10-7 xii A NOTE TO THE READER The main topic of the book is the Dance and its performance —this is covered in detail. Other considerations such as the Historical Context, clothing styłes, etc., are secondary to the purpose of this book. We have only given mere introductions to these peripheral subjects. Persons interested in further study of these topics will find them readily available elsewhere. ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATIONS Many of the illustrations are from the books of the following authors : Banach, Gutkowska- Tychlewska, Łoziński, Rameau, and Turnau. The drawings are those of the present author who wishes your forebearance for their amateur quality. ABOUT THE WORD-PROCESSING Here and there throughtout the text you will come across certain discontinuities, for example, capital letters in Polish where there should be none or excessive page gaps. These are due to using different language softwares, and the author’s lack of word-processing expertise. This does not effect the content. R. Ćwięka-Skrzyniarz xiii ALL QUOTATIONS FROM ORIGINAL SOURCES ARE INDICATED WITH QUOTATION MARKS AND ARE PRINTED IN ITALICS. THE AUTHOR’S TRANSLATIONS ARE NOT. xiv PART I THE HISTORY THE EARLIEST RECORDS The Polonaise is the Queen of Dances or the Dance of Queens. his restatement of what was originally said of the Minuet may be true or it may be false or it may be both. In any case, the reference to Royalty was stated in order to express something Noble or Spiritual about this Dance, the Polonaise—one of the T 1 world’s most Beautiful Social Ballroom Dances. We shall explore the living story of this Dance. This walking-type dance2 is perhaps the best known by the World as having some connection with Poland and or Polish Culture. There are a number of variants that will be distinguished by us. Its most permanent features have been (and still are), a walking done by any number of couples of men and women. As a walking dance, it is usually done at a slow tempo. The attitude of the dancers is one of mutual respect for each other, with the men exhibiting aspects of positive gallantry. About the origin of this dance, it is difficult to speak with absolute certainty. Searching for the early history of this dance two aspects must be considered—records of its music and its choreographic structure.