Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T22:41:05.745Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Polka Before and after the Polka

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2019

Egil Bakka
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Norwegian television is broadcasting a “Good Old Days” type of program and an engaged audience of elderly people all over the country is tuning in. An informal competition is announced: What kind of dance is this couple dancing? Let's imagine we can take in answers from people all over the country: “Oh, it's the hoppvals, just as I did it in my youth!”–“Isn't it the hamburger, it's not done anymore here.”—“That's trippar, for sure.” There are different names for this dance all over the country. Then the TV host presents the correct answer: “I'm sure you all recognised this dance, it was: the polka!” (Figure 1) Hardly any elderly traditional dancer in Norway would use the present official name polka for this dance, (Bakka 1978: 102) and the point of departure for my paper is the question Why?—Why are there many popular names for this dance in Norway, different from the “official” one?

Type
Articles
Information
Yearbook for Traditional Music , Volume 33 , 2001 , pp. 37 - 48
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 by the International Council for Traditional Music

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Sjoberg, Henry, ed. 1980 [1844?] Polkan. Sådan den dansas i salongerna. Gåfva till polk öser och polkörer af En erfaren Polkör. Faksimilutgåva efter originalet från 1844 med efterskrift av Henry Sjöberg. Dansmusei skrifter nr. 24. Stockholm: Terpsichore-dansförlaget HB.Google Scholar
Arkin, L. C. and Smith, M. 1997 National dance in the romantic ballet. In Rethinking the Sylph. New perspectives on the romatic ballet. Studies in dance history. Ed. Garafola, L., 11–68. Hanover and London: Wesleyan University Press.Google Scholar
Bakka, E. 1978 Norske dansetradisjonar, 102. Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget.Google Scholar
Bakka, E. 1991 Innleiing. In Folkedansar. Turdansar, 17–64. Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget.Google Scholar
Bakka, E., Aksdal, B. and Flem, E. 1995 Springar and Pols. Variation, dialect and age. Pilot project on the methodology for determining tradition structures and historical layering of old Norwegian couple dances. Trans. William C. Reynolds. Trondheim: Rådet for folkemusikk og folkedans.Google Scholar
Bie, O. 1919 Der Tanz. Second edition. Berlin: Verlag Julius Bard.Google Scholar
Cellarius, H. 1847 The drawing-room dances. London: E. Churton.Google Scholar
Cellarius, H. 1849 La danse des salons. Second edition. Paris.Google Scholar
Diringer, H. 1886 Die Tänze der einzelnen Völker. Die praktische Lehre der modernen Salon-Tänze, nebst einem illustrirten Cotillon. München: Verlag von Cälar Fritsch.Google Scholar
Dodworth, A. 1888 Dancing and its relations to education and social life. With a new method of instruction. New York: Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square.Google Scholar
Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme [FFF] 1956 Beskrivelse af Gamle danske Folkedanse. Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme.Google Scholar
Haid, A. 1836 Om Baldandse i Almindelighed og nyeste franske Quadriller, samt Francaiser i Scerdeleshed. Christiania: Fredrik T. Steen.Google Scholar
Haid, A. 1837 Om Baldandse i Almindelighed og nyeste Franske Quadriller samt Francaiser i Scerdeleshed. Drammen: J. Wulfsbergs Bogtrykkerie.Google Scholar
Haid, E. 1831 Om Baldandse i Almindelighed og franske Quadriller i Scerdeleshed. Trondhjem: T. A. Höeg.Google Scholar
Kröschlova, E. 1967 Polka. Typen—Figuren—Varianten—Vorführungstanz. Praha: Zentralhaus für Volks- und Laienkunst. Abteilung Tanz.Google Scholar
Layson, J. 1995 Historical perspectives in the study of dance. In Dance history. An introduction, second edition, ed. Adshead-Lansdale, J. and Layson, J., 3–17. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Moe, I. 1870 Bal-Noticebog med Beskrivelse af Francaisen og nogle Cotillon-Figurer med tegninger. Christinania: Udgiverens Forlag. Nordisk forening for folkedansforskningGoogle Scholar
Moe, I. 1988 Gammaldans i Norden. Rapport frå forskningsprosjektet Komparativ analyse av ein folkeleg dansegenre i utvalde nordiske lokalsamfunn. Trondheim: Nordisk forening for folkedansforskning.Google Scholar
Moe, I. 1997 Nordisk Folkedanstypologi. En systematisk katalog over publiserte nordiske folkedanser. Trondheim: Nordisk forening for folkedansforskning og Rådet for folkemusikk og folkedans.Google Scholar
Rustad, A. B. 1882 Danse-Bog. Anvisning til at danse Polonaise, Vals, Galopade, Polka, Rheinländer, The Lancers, samt 22 Cotillons-Toure ved Carl. Christiania: R. W. Damm & S⊘n.Google Scholar
Sachs, C. 1963 World history of the dance. Trans Bessie Schönberg. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.Google Scholar
Sandbeck, A. G. 1903 Regler for god Tone. Danseanvisning. Anden for ⊘gede Bog. Andet Oplag. Kistiania: Norsk Litteraturselskabs Aktietrykkeri.Google Scholar
Semb, K. 1925 Norske folkedansar. II Rettleiding um dansen. Second edition. Oslo: Noregs Ungdomslag.Google Scholar
Sharp, C. J. 1972 The country dance book parts I & II. London: EP Publishing Ltd.Google Scholar
Sparti, B. and Adshead-Lansdale, J. 1996 Dialogue: Dance history–current methodologies. In Dance Research Journal Congress on Research in Dance. 3–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strobel, D. F. 1998 Polka. In International encyclopedia of dance, ed. Cohen, S.J, 221–223. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Vänner, Svenska Folkdansens 1902 Lekstugan. Beskrifning öfver Svenska Folkdanser sådana de upptagits inom Säilskapet til Svenska Folkdansens Vänner i Stockholm. Stockholm: Abr. Hirschs Förlag.Google Scholar
Walcke, S. H. 1801 [Dansebok] Manuscript Universitetsbiblioteket i Oslo Manus 295 Eske 35. Unpublished.Google Scholar
Walcke, S. H. 1816 [Dansebook] Manuscript Universitetsbiblioteket i Oslo Manus 299 Eske 36. Unpublished.Google Scholar
Wilson, M. 1916 Dancing. A complete guide to all dances, with a full list of calls, the music for each figure. Etiquette of the dances, and one hundred figures for the German. Philadelphia: Penn Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Zoder, R. 1928 Altösterreichische Volkstänze mit Beschreibungen und Noten. Wien/Leizig: österreichischer Bundesverlag für Unterricht Wissenschaft und Kunst.Google Scholar
Zorn, F. A. 1976 [1905?] Grammar of the art of dancing. Unabridged republication of first edition, Boston. New York: Dance Horizons.Google Scholar