Mazurka

A sultry seductive couple dance, the mazurka is found in much of western, central and northern Europe. The form most often danced in France is a variation combining the basic mazurka step and the waltz step.

Form of the Dance

This couple dance involves alternating mazurka steps and waltz steps with a bit of a confusing twist…

Steps

The mazurka step is a rocking step onto one foot and then back onto the other followed by a slight pause and is counted 'one, two, lift'. The mazurka step alternates with a waltz step as follows:

1. Mazurka step on the spot starting man's left, woman's right.
2. Waltz step turning a quarter turn to the left (anticlockwise)
3. Mazurka step turning to the right, starting man's Rt., woman's Lt.
4. Waltz step continuing the turn. (Total one and a quarter turns to Rt.)

Count: Ma-zur-ka-1-2-3-Ma-zur-ka-1-2-3.

Bar	1	2	3	4
Beat	1 2 3	1 2 3	1 2 3	1 2 3
Man	L R -	L R L	R L -	R L R
Woman	R L -	R L R	L R -	L R L

All steps should be as close as possible to your partner to enable you to spin as much as possible.

Music

h The music should match the feel of the dance, with the main beat every 2 bars (at the start of the mazurka step).

Variations and Improvisation

Variations include throwing in lots of mazurka steps in a row: try 3 mazurkas followed by a waltz. The crazy Scandinavians have lots of fun variations including extra turns, open holds, foot slapping and more. I prefer dancing the mazurka fairly 'straight' and responding to the music by turning more slowly, more quickly, more jerkily or more smoothly.

Copyright

Text and images copyright (2004) Graham Knapp/Les Panards Dansants. Please contact graham@frenchdanceleeds.co.uk to arrange permission for copying and reproduction of any kind. Many thanks.