-- Professor Barthélemy Bottallo, Paris, c1910-12 (my translation)
I kept tripping over descriptions of the Polka Russe in various sources while researching something else, so I finally decided to pull together all eight descriptions in a little overview. This proved an interesting demonstration of the lack of standardization in nineteenth-century dance: while the sequences given by different authors (or sometimes by the same author) are clearly related, there are enough clear incompatibilities among the various descriptions that there is no way to determine a definitive version.
While its origins are unclear, the sources I have range from late 1880s New York to the Paris of the first decade of the 20th century, though the American and French versions differ significantly in dance position and modestly in step-sequence.
The Parisian form of the Polka Russe incorporates the earlier "heel and toe" or "Bohemian" polka, which is included in some of the descriptions under the name "polka piquée," while the two versions from New York are very similar to a two-step sequence developed by William Lamb in England in the late 1890s, Tres Chic, and Lamb's similar two-step/schottische hybrid, Tantivy, as well as the popular Washington Post (done to the Sousa tune of the same name), which has similar positioning and arm movements to the Parisian form of the Polka Russe.
New York: Rivers & Gilbert
The first mention of the Polka Russe I have located is in A Full Description of Modern Dances by C.H. Rivers, published in Brooklyn around 1885. Rivers' "Polka 'Russe' is a simple sixteen-bar sequence that incorporates the older Esmerelda polka variation, though Rivers himself does not so identify it, and in fact gives something entirely different for the Esmerelda.
Normal closed ballroom position is used throughout. Steps below are given for the gentleman; the lady dances opposite.
2b Point left toe to second, then tuck it behind the right in fifth raised; polka, turning half round (1, 2, 3&4)
2b Repeat with right foot
2b Four-slide galop starting on left foot, turning half round at the end (1&2&3&4)
2b Polka, making a complete turn (1&2, 3&4)
8b Repeat entire sequence starting on right foot ("over elbows")
Bars 5-8 (and their repeat on 13-16) are the Esmerelda sequence.
Fellow New Yorker M.B.(Melvin Ballou) Gilbert, in his 1890 tome, Round Dancing, offers the same version, though he does not bother to specify the turns and drops the quotation marks around Russe. Both Rivers and Gilbert clean up the old-fashioned "heel and toe" segments by turning them into genteel pointings of the toe.
An interesting question of performance for this and all other variations is whether when pointing-and-tucking or heeling-and-toeing, the dancers should hop slightly on the other foot. This is explicitly described as part of the Bohemian/heel-and-toe polka in Gilbert (and older sources), but is not mentioned in any of the descriptions of the Polka Russe. I prefer it, personally, as it lends a liveliness to the dance to do these hops. Simply standing still while moving a foot here and there is momentum-killing. But it is certainly an open question.
Moving on to Paris right at the turn of the century:
Paris: Giraudet #1
Eugène Giraudet, in the 1900 edition of his twin volumes La danse, la tenue, le maintien, l'hygiène & l'éducation and Traité de la danse, provides several different versions of the Polka Russe. The version given in La danse... is quite simple:
The man and woman join inside hands, both facing forward, starting on outside feet (his left, her right).
2b Polka forward with outside foot, then heel & toe with inside foot (1&2, 3, 4)
2b Polka forward with inside foot, then heel & toe with outside foot (1&2, 3, 4)
4b Close into ballroom position and eight-slide galop leading with the outside foot, without turning, closing the inside foot up at the end to be ready to open up and recommence the polka (1&2&3&4&5&6&7&8&)
This version is interesting in that it reverses the usual order of the heel & toe/polka combination and that it has no turning on the second part, merely a long galop which segues nicely into the initial polka step on the repeat. It is possible that rather than an eight-slide galop, Giraudet meant a pair of four-slide galops, but those are described elsewhere as a "coquette" sequence or as two galop steps and a polka step, whereas this sequence is described as eight galop steps.
Paris: Giraudet #2
Interestingly, in the gigantic index in his Traité..., Giraudent gives other versions of the dance. In the entry for "Polka Russe (Pas de la)" [step of the Polka Russe], Giraudet gives the sequence as follows (steps given for gentleman; lady dances opposite):
2b Point left toe to second, place left behind right in fifth, polka (1, 2, 3&4)
2b Repeat with right foot
2b Four-slide galop starting on left foot (1&2&3&4)
2b Four-slide galop starting on left foot (1&2&3&4)
The galop at the end is referred to as a series of "coquette" steps; while the various explanations for the coquette are contradictory, in this case it appears to mean the simple galops given above. It is unclear whether or not the galop sequences include half-turns at the end.
This sequence is very close to that given in the New York sources, but it replaces the "Esmerelda" segment with a simple pair of four-slide galops, meaning that a repeat on the opposite foot is not required.
Giraudet does not specify the position of the dancers, referring the reader to the description of the dance. But which description of the three given by Giraudet? Clearly #1 above is not a match.
Paris: Giraudet #3
Another version found in Traité... is the "Polka à la Russe." This variation positions the dancers side by side, the gentleman slightly behind and to the left of the lady. Left hands are joined in front and right hands in back at the level of the lady's waist. Both dancers begin on the left foot.
1b Heel (out to second) & toe (close) with the left foot (1, 2)
1b Polka, the gentleman dancing in place while the lady crosses in front of him to his left (3&4)
1b Heel (out to second) & toe (close) with the right foot (1, 2)
1b Polka, the gentleman dancing in place while the lady crosses in front of him to his right (3&4)
2b Four-slide galop starting with the left foot, the lady at the gentleman's right (1&2&3&4)
2b Four-slide galop starting with the right foot, the lady at the gentleman's left (1&2&3&4)
At the end of the galops, as in the earlier polka steps, the gentleman dances the last last bar (3&4) almost in place, allowing the lady to cross back and forth in front of him, leaving her on his right again at the end, ready to resume the sequence from the beginning.
Paris: Giraudet #4
Finally, the verbose M. Giraudet offers his own sequence, the "Polka russe à la mode (Luba)," which in Traité... he dates to 1893. This seems to be the description referred to in #2 above. Once again, left hands are joined in front and right behind, either at the lady's right shoulder or, if the lady is "plus grande" [taller] than the gentleman, at her waist. The sequence is that given above under Giraudet #2, the "pas de la Polka Russe" with the added detail that the woman moves back and forth as in Giraudet #3:
1b Point left toe to second, place left behind right in fifth (1, 2)
1b Polka, the gentleman dancing in place while the lady crosses in front of him to his left (3&4)
1b Point right toe to second, place left behind right in fifth (1, 2)
1b Polka, the gentleman dancing in place while the lady crosses in front of him to his right (3&4)
2b Four-slide galop starting with the left foot, the lady at the gentleman's right (1&2&3&4)
2b Four-slide galop starting with the right foot, the lady at the gentleman's left (1&2&3&4)
The only difference in this sequence is that Giraudet, like the New York dancing masters, dictates the more decorous pointings of the toe rather than the less delicate heel & toe. Giraudet also directs that while pointing the toe one should gently lower the head and look at one's foot.
Paris: Desrat
Still another version, vaguely described and thus less useful, is given by G. Desrat, writing in Paris around the turn of the century. In his Traité de la danse, he describes a sequence in which the gentleman stands behind the lady with the peculiar instruction to
croise les mains derrière avec elle
Since crossing both hands behind her back would be rather awkward for the lady, my guess is that Desrat intended the two to join right hands behind her back and left hands in front as in the Giraudet sequences. Both partners start on the right foot. My best reconstruction of the sequence is:
2b Tap the right heel twice, then polka forward
2b Tap the left heel twice, then polka forward
4b Two four-slide galops, starting first on the right foot and then on the left
Desrat does not specify where the heel taps are placed; forward on the diagonal seems the most likely.
Paris: Bottallo
Finally, one Professor Barthélemy Bottallo, in his Guide du Bon Danseur, published in Paris around 1910-1912 (judging from the gown of the woman on the cover), gives a very detailed description of the sequence, also noting that it has "musique spéciale." He starts with a charmingly blunt explanation of its popularity, which I used in (my) translation as the opening quotation above:
La Polka russe est une danse très appréciée par les bons danseurs; elle est d'une très grande simplicité tout en paraissant très compliquée.
Bottallo places his dancers with right hands joined high behind the lady's shoulders and left hands joined in front of the gentleman, who stands behind and to the left of the lady. Other than having the right hands joined behind the shoulders rather than lower at the waist, Bottallo's sequence is precisely the same as the sequence described above under "Giraudet #3."
Quick mnemonics for all the different Polka Russe sequences given here:
New York, late 1880s (Rivers & Gilbert)
Ballroom position; point-tuck, polka turn; point-tuck, polka turn; galop-galop-galop-turn; polka turn, polka turn (repeat)
Paris, 1900 (Giraudet #1)
Holding inside hands; polka, heel-toe; polka, heel-toe. Close up into ballroom position; galop-galop-galop-galop; galop-galop-galop-galop(close)
Paris, 1900 (Giraudet #2 (steps only) and 4)
Left in left, right in right behind (shoulders or waist); point-tuck, lady cross; point-tuck, lady cross; galop-galop-galop-cross; galop-galop-galop-cross
Paris, c1900 (Desrat)
Left in left, right in right behind; heel-heel, polka; heel-heel, polka; galop-galop-galop-galop; galop-galop-galop-galop
Paris, 1900-c1912 (Giraudet #3, Bottallo)
Left in left, right in right behind (shoulders or waist); heel-toe, lady cross; heel-toe, lady cross; galop-galop-galop-cross; galop-galop-galop-cross
Which version of the Polka Russe is preferred will depend on the era (and possibly the location) one is reenacting and the personal preference of the dancers.
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