Jump to content

Polka step ballet


Isabella

Recommended Posts

I agree, Jan.  Which syllabus are you/your child studying, Isabella?  If RAD, there is a Polka step in the junior grades, if I remember rightly.  You should be able to find examples on Youtube by searching for “RAD Ballet Polka” or similar.

 

Turnout can be quite a complex concept, especially for young dancers as it involves various muscle groups being identified and engaged to ensure correct technique (and the strength to maintain turnout while dancing).  Hence I agree with Jan’s advice to ask the teacher for advice and, if applicable, exercises.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It’s an imperial ballet step and is like a forward galop ending in a fondu derrière. In my opinion it’s a hideous step and making them look good is very hard. The dancer has to have straight, turned out legs on the first ‘galop’ phase, and then bent, also turned out legs in the second phase which looks more like a curtesy position. From this position the back leg moves through a petit developpé devant on the “hop” preceding the next galop. All while keeping the body lifted and pulled up (tricky bearing in mind the rhythm and the fondu moment) and the step often looks heavy when it should have a light, lilting quality. 
 

good luck!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you so much for your comments. Due to circumstances I don’t get to see the ballet teacher as I often pick up late. I’ve looked for polka online before but I can’t find good examples. Thank you Dr Dance for the description that’s really helpful. I’m not a dancer so I’m going to google some of the terminology! If anyone can recommend a good video or any other advice I would be very thankful. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To try and simplify - The basic step is -hop step, together ( join feet 5th), and jete ( swish jump).There are 3 main features which would to need to look turned out. The first is a hop with the other leg straight out in front ( turned out and toes pointed) and step forward ( turned out) Second, the back leg pulls in to the front leg in 5th ( Demi pointe and obviously turned out) Third is a ‘jete ordinaire en avant ’which the front leg swishes along the floor, jump on to it and land with back leg in a turned out plie up behind in coup de pied ( turned out). It can also be done to second ( travelling side to side). It is a very tricky and complex step for grade 1 and I’m sure this can’t help you at all!

If you google jete ordinaire derrière and en avant you might find something . Have fun!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, drdance said:

It’s an imperial ballet step and is like a forward galop ending in a fondu derrière. In my opinion it’s a hideous step and making them look good is very hard. The dancer has to have straight, turned out legs on the first ‘galop’ phase, and then bent, also turned out legs in the second phase which looks more like a curtesy position. From this position the back leg moves through a petit developpé devant on the “hop” preceding the next galop. All while keeping the body lifted and pulled up (tricky bearing in mind the rhythm and the fondu moment) and the step often looks heavy when it should have a light, lilting quality. 
 

good luck!

 

Oh!

 

My Imperial Ballet Grade 1 girls look lovely doing this step and we always enjoy the challenge of making it look neat and tidy. It helps with rhythm and counting too .....a1&2, a1&2. I certainly wouldn't call it a hideous step!! 

 

Isabella, we always start off learning it 'sideways'. Face your partner. Learn the rhythm first...a1&2. a1&2. Then move, hop gallop change spring.....(landing in petit jete derriere position) try and concentrate on a good landing position. Your daughter should understand this or if in doubt ask her teacher. Good luck. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Petit Jete said:

 

Oh!

 

My Imperial Ballet Grade 1 girls look lovely doing this step and we always enjoy the challenge of making it look neat and tidy. It helps with rhythm and counting too .....a1&2, a1&2. I certainly wouldn't call it a hideous step!! 

 

Isabella, we always start off learning it 'sideways'. Face your partner. Learn the rhythm first...a1&2. a1&2. Then move, hop gallop change spring.....(landing in petit jete derriere position) try and concentrate on a good landing position. Your daughter should understand this or if in doubt ask her teacher. Good luck. 

Personal opinion is all - I’ve seen it done so badly particularly in festivals that I developed a dislike for it early on! As an RAD trained dancer I wasn’t exposed to it until I began teaching in my 20s and didn’t quite understand the relevance of it, especially as I was seeing it done so badly most of the time! I’m sure if I had seen it done beautifully and properly from the outset my opinion would be different! 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’m sure I have a distant memory of learning the polka around Primary/Grade 1 RAD...and I can still hear the tune! As soon as you said a 1 and 2 a 1 and 2 Petit Jete it popped straight into my mind. 
I seem to remember holding our ballet tunics out whilst doing it....and my main memory is going side to side initially.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

RAD Primary used to include polkaing with a partner. Wearing our white dresses with ?pink sashes (or was it pink, blue, white and yellow as for badges for the graded exams) and remembering to dance so close to our partners that ‘we could hold a newspaper between us’. 
 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry to put in a negative note, but I don't really "get" why the teacher would ask parents to work with their child on exercises that require an understanding of correct technique.   With the best will in the world a lay parent can't take the place of a trained teacher and I would never ask our parents to do that.  A parent can make sure the child practises, but honestly how would they know if they're doing it correctly?  The video of the Russian children is actually not how the RAD does it, as far as I know!  I always taught it with a jump - hop through with a turned out petit developpé into a gallop followed by a step hop with the back leg turned out.  It can also be done to the side and with a turn.  Good for you Isabella that you're trying to do it properly, but in my opinion as an experienced teacher, I don't think you should have been asked.

Edited by Dance*is*life
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OMG that’s the tune!!! And much nearer the way I learned it...in the 1950’s I’d better add!! 
Thanks for your video though Swan Princess the Russians do tend to use demi pointe more on the whole. That makes it a bit more ‘delicate’ but It was quite a vigorous step and I remember loving doing it! 
You can see the instruction for turnout would be for that first leg as it comes forward ...heel forward sort of thing ...not with the foot flat on to the front. 
But I agree with Dance is Life to be honest unless the teacher has given out or instructed parents to view a particular video for demonstration it could be the ‘blind leading the blind’ a bit at home. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello All, thank you so much for replying and trying to help me with this step. Just to clarify I wasn’t asked by the teacher to practise this...sorry I didn’t make myself clear. We were given some feedback from a festival a few months ago and it asked us to work on turn out in the polka step so I’m trying to help my daughter out as once they learn the dance there isn’t a lot of time to return to it during dance sessions. Funnily enough the above video of the lady is the video we’ve used to try and improve the step. It’s just so hard to combine rhythm, turn out and to actually get the step right! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes Fiz definitely faster than the Russian one and maybe a fraction faster than drdance video which is probably why I liked it so much. 
 

The best polka of all is the Polish turning polka.. that grown ups would do with a partner. It’s so fast going round it makes you a bit dizzy! 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For classical training the Russian one is the correct balletic version, which you will see on demi pointe or pointe in most of the major classical ballets.  With a galop it is "ballroom" or character, great fun, and a good way to prepare for the ballet polka.

 

However, I am not a fan of the ISTD version as it interupts the flow of the step and has the wrong emphasis.  The rhythm of a polka is "step together step hop" and remains the same whether the "together" is galoped or on demi pointe.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Pas de Quatre said:

For classical training the Russian one is the correct balletic version, which you will see on demi pointe or pointe in most of the major classical ballets.  With a galop it is "ballroom" or character, great fun, and a good way to prepare for the ballet polka.

 

However, I am not a fan of the ISTD version as it interupts the flow of the step and has the wrong emphasis.  The rhythm of a polka is "step together step hop" and remains the same whether the "together" is galoped or on demi pointe.


I totally agree with you Pas de Quatre. I don’t know the history of the Polka but I think there’s a lovely one in ‘ Meet me in St Louis’ or ‘ Little Women’ and it a lovely, natural, happy movement that flows along quite chirpy. The ISTD version stops very suddenly after the spring/ jete which indeed stops the flow of movement. But I don’t know how all these versions came to be.... sure there’s good reason.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, valentina said:


I totally agree with you Pas de Quatre. I don’t know the history of the Polka but I think there’s a lovely one in ‘ Meet me in St Louis’ or ‘ Little Women’ and it a lovely, natural, happy movement that flows along quite chirpy. The ISTD version stops very suddenly after the spring/ jete which indeed stops the flow of movement. But I don’t know how all these versions came to be.... sure there’s good reason.


Sounds like a dance research project needs to be done!!!!!! Interestingly (or not) I also do north-west Morris dancing and the polka step in clogs is VERY different! Although it has the same rhythm. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

my daughter nearly always gets comments about "sustain turnout" from festivals, I suspect an awful lot of them do when they are young! Her teacher has always said that they need to have good muscle strength to maintain the turnout so perhaps you need to ask for advice on exercises to strengthen turnout which will then enable her to hold it during the step if that makes sense?

 

should add, just a mum here and my daughter was born with her legs turned in so turnout has always been hard for her so we take it all very slowly as a result.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Isabella the best thing to do is to talk to your DD's teacher and see what they suggest. As you say, there is always a degree of subjectivity, and some adjudicators are more knowledgeable on particular things than others. I am not anti festival at all - my DD did them for over a decade and got a lot out of the experience  - but I think it is always wise not to take them too seriously. The adjudicator is seeing just a snapshot of your DD's dancing, and whilst the comments can be helpful, personally, I would generally take the advice of a trusted teacher who knows your DD well, over an adjudicator who has watched her for 90 seconds, especially when there is more than one approach to a particular dance or step. 

If you tried to follow every piece of advice you would go crazy! I remember one particular national dance that my DD did for a while in her later teens which became a bit of a joke because it seemed that every time she did it the adjudicator would directly contradict the one before. She was told it was too fast, then too slow. She was lifting her legs too far, then not far enough. It was a dance from a hot country, so she was putting too much energy into it, it should be more languid. No, it was from a country where the people are very exuberant so it needed to be livelier....you get the picture! 🤣 The amusing thing was, that as it was from her grandmother's home region she had done a lot of research and choreographed it herself and we knew it was technically very accurate. There was just one step in it that was not completely authentic and none of the adjudicators picked up on that. In fact if I recall rightly she had a few positive comments about that part!  But basically, she just focused on doing it the way she knew was right, not changing it every time an adjudicator was critical. I'm guessing your DD is younger and her dances are choreographed by her teacher rather than self choreographed, so I would say that she should dance it how she has been taught, and if she is unclear, ask the teacher. As you say, seeing lots of videos all slightly different is likely to confuse rather than help. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Isabella said:

I’m totally confused now... there are so many different versions now I’m not sure what to tell my daughter. I suppose it will be subjective to each adjudicator as to whether she’s doing it right?! 


I wouldn’t worry too much about the detail as long as she’s making some effort to turn the legs outwards, rather than parallel. Whichever version the teacher wants, it will need to be with use of turn out if she’s doing ballet. 
She is only Gr 1? And it takes many years to learn to hold those legs outwards so don’t worry too much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, Pups_mum said:

 

If you tried to follow every piece of advice you would go crazy! I remember one particular national dance that my DD did for a while in her later teens which became a bit of a joke because it seemed that every time she did it the adjudicator would directly contradict the one before. She was told it was too fast, then too slow. She was lifting her legs too far, then not far enough. It was a dance from a hot country, so she was putting too much energy into it, it should be more languid. No, it was from a country where the people are very exuberant so it needed to be livelier....you get the picture! 🤣 The amusing thing was, that as it was from her grandmother's home region she had done a lot of research and choreographed it herself and we knew it was technically very accurate. There was just one step in it that was not completely authentic and none of the adjudicators picked up on that. In fact if I recall rightly she had a few positive comments about that part!  But basically, she just focused on doing it the way she knew was right, not changing it every time an adjudicator was critical. 

this is so true, my girls have a very technically difficult and accurate flamenco dance choreographed by a real expert yet some adjudicators have told us it is completely wrong....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That must be very frustrating Mrs Brown but I hope some other adjudicators appreciate your girls' dance. I love watching Flamenco, it is so dramatic and beautiful. I guess no adjudicator can be an expert on everything, especially with so many styles of dance to understand in National sections. I actually always have far more respect for those who say " this isn't really my sphere of expertise but..." than those who make bold pronouncements when they clearly don't know the style well. It certainly can be upsetting, especially for younger children when they have tried so very hard and get poor feedback. But I do think there is a lot to be gained even from negative experiences and my DD got very good at picking out what was useful to her and ignoring what wasn't. We actually had a lot of laughs over the conflicting opinions on some of her dances, and as long as she was happy with her performance then so was I.

Adjudication looks like a really tough job. I used to find it hard going just to sit through some of the long sections when my DD was competing, especially senior lyrical modern sections with 40 angst ridden teens, or character sections where everyone died 🤣. I can't imagine having to concentrate and try to give some kind of meaningful feedback to every dancer over a whole week! And music festival adjudicators are even more amazing. My son gets comments like " You just held the second semi quaver in bar 82 a fraction too long" and I'm thinking "Whaaat! I know you have the music in front of you but how on earth can you spot that level of detail?!" So whilst I've done my fair share of grumbling over the years, I do really have a lot of respect for adjudicators and most of them do a brilliant job and give a lot to our young people. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I completely agree Pups_mum. All they have to do is say "actually I am not that familiar with this style" or even just "they were all good but I picked the ones I enjoyed watching most and avoid technicalities if they aren't sure. But they definitely shouldn't make them up! 

 

I would fall asleep if I had to do it. I am more than happy to watch some festivals and dance school shows etc but the seat are usually uncomfortable and it is always dark and stuffy and I would just get so bored. I know exactly what you mean about some of the depressing dances.... When my daughter announced she wanted to do a lyrical dance I was very clear that was only if it was happy!!!!

 

Gosh the music ones must be really on the ball!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...