MEMOIRS BY ZYGMUNT MINEYKO (1840-1925)[1]
Here we have some citations dealing with the Mazurka Dance when the author was in attendance at a military school in St. Petersburg, Russia. He entered the school in 1858 at the age of 18. This was a school attended by the upper-class of Russia and of the sons of the Polish Nobility who were now subjects of the Tsar.He tells about his dance teacher.
“Between staff, I remember a French teacher, who taught us dancing. He was an elderly man still trying to proof his vitality showing his energy in an artificial way. He demonstrated all different steps in a funny way. We could not resist us from laughing. His face reminded a young old man. He achieved this strange effect shaving all his facial hair. In Russia, at that time most men did not shave face, or at least part of it. We had to practise dance steps to death. Those peers who acted as female had to carry a white scarf on right arm. The duty officer was always present at dance classes. Usually he took part in the good time as well. Dance classes were just fun, full of laughter and happiness.”
The young cadet wasalready a skilled Mazur dancer from Lithuania as we read below.
“He instructed us how to dance a mazurka dance. The instruction was a real parody. He ran with high speed at the end throwing his legs backwards with a high energy. I never saw again such a profanity of our national dance. Finely, I showed him all required steps. I also explained of a necessity of applying different figures making the dance interesting. I showed him a special step called “holubietz”. I showed how to start that step from the left and right leg, in accordance with rhythms of music. This part of dance is extremely important when someone dances solo or at the front of the entire line of dancers. The professor tried very hard to imitate what I showed him.” However, he ended up in entanglement of his own legs. He concluded that this type of dance belongs to ballet. It should not be danced as a part of salon dancing. I responded with my usual statement: to learn mazurka someone has to be Polish.”
Here we note that there was “running” as fits the character of the Basic Step. This may just be a case of self-praise, for it was not true at that time in St. Petersburg, that general figures or collective figures were not known.There were Russian Dance manuals from the years 1825, 1839 and 1848 with the last one a Russian translation of Cellarius. Can we imagine a French dance teacher not knowing Cellarius? [2] The Mazurka in Russia was fitted into the Quadrille Form. Maybe Zygmunt Mineyko found this too restrictive and introduced freer figure actions.
The “holubietz” here is not the couple-turn but the heel-clicking side step, “Holubiec.” Can we believe that a dance teacher would have difficulty in clicking his heels? What we can believe is that he found this action to be distasteful as he preferred a more elegant, easy and calm manner of moving the feet across the floor: keeping the feet in contact with the floor, which then as now, is a feature of many Ballroom Dances.
The dance teacher may have been throwing his leg backwards in the sliding, Pas Glise movement. Could it be that the teacher, like many of the theater-going spectators, only saw the stage variants of the Mazur, as described for example by Dr. Janina Pudełek, who researched the performances given by Polish Dancers in St. Petersburg in 1851? [3]This group of Polish Dancers was brought to St. Petersburg at the request of Tsar Nicholas I as a surprise present to his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna. This was a robust Mazur which she enjoyed.
Below the author tells us how the Mazur opened all the doors to the Social World of St. Petersburg.
“I would remain invisible during the evening if musicians would not play my beloved melody of mazurka. I love this dance - so Polish in its nature. My heart started to beat again. I was the first on the floor dancing. Others followed my steps. I knew every movement by instinct. At the end, I realized that all guest surrounded me watching my solo performance. The dance was finished with cheers from all guests. Alexander congratulated me. He and the general encouraged me to lead the next mazurka, involving few pairs of those who knew how to dance these difficult steps.
My brother in law knew very well about my dancing skills, that I could perform the most difficult steps with grace, that I was truly talented in this respect. He wanted me to show my the best, securing me the entrance to the best houses of St. Petersburg. With the recommendation of the general doors of the most famous houses of that city could have been open for me. I could not reject such offer. I had to fulfil expectations of both. To the new tunes of mazurkas, I started vigorously dance again. Again, everybody focused an attention solely on me. This time a young girl whom I have chosen measured up to the task. I did not have to look after her steps. She intuitively knew her role. She could predict in advance what I was going to do. Truly, she had a sense of rhythm. Both of us seemed to be one spirit united in the dance. From time to time, new pair joined dancing crowd. All dancing participants had to follow a general pattern. Dancers became part of a greater plan designed to express nature of mazurka. All of us had a great time, emphasising Polish character of the evening. I was truly pleased.”
“I succeeded in making a mark on St. Petersburg scene. The party lasted long hours into the morning. Lively Polish tunes kept the guests awaken. I transformed myself from the village boy into a new Casanova. I have to admit that I brought to St. Petersburg new variations of mazurka. The integration of all dancing pairs into one well-organized pattern was not yet known in that city. Mazurka is a very powerful tune that allows many variations of different figures and steps. Not many dances can measure up to such complexity. I believe it is one of the most complicated dance to perform. No wonder why Chopin loved so much to play.”
[1]We found this on the internet at in March, 2010. This is only a small part of the author’s reminiscences. We have chosen to retain the original spelling and syntax in the translation above.
[2] We can, but still, it seems dubious.
[3]Dr. Janina Pudełek, “The Polish Dancers Visit St. Petersburg, 1851: A Detective Story,”In Dance Chronicle, V. 19, Number 2, 1996, (New York), pp. 171-189. When it came to Polish Dances, in particular of the Mazur-Mazurka, Dr. Janina Pudełek was a patriotic-cultural soul-mate to the present author. She was one of my research advisers. It was through her that we received all of our Russian sources. Like so many of the then girls and young women of the war years she contributed much to the cause of Polish Ballet and Dance Culture. Unfortunately, she recently died in 2004.