'The polonaise' (Polish: polonez, chodzony; Italian: polacca) is a rather slow dance of Polish origin, in 3/4 time.
Before Frédéric Chopin, the polonaise had a rhythm quite close to that of the Swedish semiquaver or sixteenth-note polska, and the two dances have a common origin. From Chopin onward, the polonaise developed a very solemn style, and has in that version become very popular in the classical music of several countries.
Polonaise is always a first dance at a studniówka (means: "hundred-days"), the Polish equivalent of the senior prom, which is ca. 100 days before exams.
One fine example of a polonaise is the well-known 'Heroic' Polonaise in A flat major, Op.53. A masterpiece with exceptional pianistic demands, the paragon of such a piece can only be achieved by those with virtuosic skill. Chopin composed this polonaise as the dream of a powerful, victorious and prosperous Poland.
Polonaise is a wide-spread dance on carnival parties. There is also a German song, called "Polonäse Blankenese" from Gottlieb Wendehals alias Werner Böhm, which is often played on carnival festivals in Germany about this dance.
On Loveparade 2006 there will be a trial to make the longest polonaise ever existed on earth.
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See also
- polka, a 2/4-beat dance of Czech origin
- polska, a 3/4-beat Nordic folk dance
- polka-mazurka, a 3/4-beat dance, musically similar to the mazurka