Polka
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Polka is a type of dance, and also a genre of dance music. The dance is characterized by three quick steps and a hop and is danced to music in 2/4, or duple, time. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia, and is still a common genre of Czech, Croatian and Slovenian folk music; it is also common both in Europe and in the Americas. In classical music, many polkas were composed by both Johann Strauss I and his son Johann Strauss II; a couple of well-known ones were composed by Bedřich Smetana and Jaromír Vejvoda, the author of Škoda lásky ("Roll Out the Barrel"). Musician "Weird Al" Yankovic routinely includes a polka medley in his albums.
The name comes from Czech word půlka, which means a half, and is related to a half rhythm in the music. Due to its name it is often mistakenly attributed to Poland. It should also not be confused with the polska, a Swedish 3/4-beat dance with Polish roots; cf. polka-mazurka. A related dance is the redowa.
[edit] See also
- Austrian folk dancing
- polska 3/4-beat Nordic folk dance
- polonaise - 3/4 -beat slow dance of Polish origin
- polka-mazurka - 3/4-beat dance, musically similar to the mazurka
- List of Polka artists
- New Ulm, Minnesota, "a Polka capital of the Nation"
