Brief History of Polka
The Polka is a vivacious and high spirited dance of Bohemian origin, which found large fan-following throughout Europe and America. The name ‘Polka’ comes from the Czech work ‘Pulka’ the literal translation of which means ‘little half’, which could allude to the short, rapid, half steps that are to be found in the dance.
This popular dance form was supposed to have originated in Czechoslovakia when a peasant woman named Anna Slezak composed it to the tune of a popular folk song called ‘Strycek Nimra Koupil Simla’ (Uncle nimra brought a white horse) in 1834. Initially named by her as the ‘Madera’ due to its quickness and vigor of steps, it was successfully introduced to the ballrooms of Prague a year later.
In 1835, at Paris, the Polka was introduced in the stage of the Odeon theatre by a Czech dance teacher. It attained immense popularity thereafter, and the success of it led the Parisian dance teachers to modify it suitably for their ball rooms and salons.
It was only by the middle of the nineteenth century that the Polka reached England. But unfortunately, it couldn’t get the sort of popularity it merited. It was around the same time that the Polka reached the shores of America too, where it found a lot of takers. In fact, it has been recorded that for the 1849 Philadelphia Assembly, a new polka was composed by Breiter’s band.
Of all the dances that originated in the nineteenth-century, the Polka seems to be the only one which has survived. Its immense popularity also led to the invention of several other dances.