PAO Dance Instructions

1.  Hasapico for Couple

Woman stands to right and slightly ahead of man, both facing same direction.  Woman's arms are partially uplifted vertically, fingers pointing up, palms facing forward, and hands roughly at head height. Man's arms are partially uplifted like the woman's, but shifted to his right, so his left hand reaches in front of him to hold her left hand; his right hand reaches behind her to hold her right hand.  This position allows fully joined, independent, and parallel movements.  Man and woman do the same steps throughout.

Movement 1.

Left:    A slight leap forward and fall onto left foot, left knee

            slightly bent, body leans forward slightly.

Right:  Touch right toe behind, and

Right:  Swing/bring/almost a push-kick/ right foot forward, then

            lift right knee somewhat, and

Right:  Bring right foot back, still lifted, and, in a slightly

circular motion, step back onto right foot.

Left:    Step back on left.

Right:  Forward

Left:    Forward

Right:  Forward

Left:    Touch left heel slightly forward, beside balls of right

            foot, without taking weight.

Left:    Repeat the just-previous left heel touch.

Repeat Movement 1, but instead of a second weightless left heel

              touch at the end, shift weight onto left foot.

Movement 2.

In these steps, weight lands first on ball of foot.

“Long Turns:”

Right:   Still facing forward, right foot steps sideways to left,

                   passing in front of, and going past, left foot.

Left:     Step in behind up to right foot.

Right:   Repeat first step, but end by pivoting clockwise on

                   ball of right foot.

Reverse the above three steps:

                  Left step in front of the right foot to the right,

                  Right to the right behind left,

                  Left to the right in front of the right, and then pivot 

                   counterclockwise on the left, which prepares to:

Repeat the above long turns.

“Tight Turns:”

Right:        After the pivot counterclockwise on left foot, right

                 foot steps to the left in front of and past left foot

Left:          Pivot clockwise on right, bringing left foot in front of

                 right foot and stepping on the left foot to the right

                 past right foot

Right:       Repeat the above right tight pivot, pivoting clockwise 

                 at end to face forward, weight ending on right foot.

Left:          Small leap/fall forward onto left foot, slightly bent

                  knee.

Right:        Back on right (a long note)

Left:          Back on left (a long note)

Right:        Forward (short note)

Left:          Forward (short note)

      Right:  Forward (short note)

Repeat dance as desired to end of music.

2.  Pols

The steps can be described, but good teaching and lots of practice are needed to do this well.  I think I have found some unique and powerfully enjoyable ways to do it, but if I am not available, international folk-dance groups or Scandinavian societies ought to be able to  help. 

I learned this dance sometime around 1970 in a workshop in Princeton, NJ, sponsored by the Princeton Folk Dance Group (Tuesday night) and given by Gordon Ekvall Tracie, who was based in Seattle, but Princeton/Tuesday currently does not dance the pols or (hambo).

Formation and Walking Step

Man stands beside woman, to her left, both facing forward.  His right hand reaches around her back and loosely holds her right waist.  Her left hand rests on the top side of his right shoulder.

They walk forward:   Outside foot (man's left, woman's right) steps forward, hold, inside foot steps forward.   Repeat as desired, then switch to the following when desired:

Transition to Turning Movement:

On the last inside step, man begins to pivot clockwise as  he steps on right foot to face woman.  He follows with left foot continuing around to complete the face-to-face position. Woman's inside/left foot is normal, then she brings right foot to place beside her left foot, turning counterclockwise to face the man.  

As they come face to face, man puts left hand high up on the outside of woman's right arm; woman puts her right hand on man's left waist, while her left arm slides down from the man's right shoulder top to high up on the outside of his right arm.

In this "equilateral" position, each has the same hold on the other.  They are positioned so that the left hand can push to the right or pull inward; the right arm can pull inward (to the center point between man and woman) at the waist.  This pulling and pushing helps keep the turn going, but the real action is with the feet. 

The Turning Movement

For the actual turning motion, a three-step sequence, I'll start as if the last walking step (R-man, L-woman) is the first turning step.  (This is how the hambo turn starts.  I note this because the hambo is probably much better known, and the step sequence is identical in the turn.  People who know only the hambo ought to be able to pick up the pols and then teach it to actors.)

Man's Step

1.  Right

Man turns clockwise on left foot while stepping onto R heel, then shifts weight to ball of R foot, and pivots clockwise on ball of R foot.

2.  Left (plus right)

Man steps onto ball of left foot while continuing the pivot on the ball of right foot, so that he comes to pivot clockwise on balls of both feet.  Sometimes men dip here to gain position to straighten up—rise—and pull with the quads, back, and arms in the next step.  (Men trying to learn this just by watching and copying sometimes make the mistake of hopping instead of dipping and rising.)

3.  Left Right (together)

Left pivot continues on ball of foot while right weight shifts back onto right heel and man leans back (and may straighten up using back and legs), pulling the woman centripetally inward and around (front of right foot can rise to facilitate lean and pivot).  This provides the greatest ease of power for the man to produce the turn.

However, when problematic knees, back, arms, etc. militate that less power be used, weight on right foot may stay on ball of foot, not going strongly if at all onto heel.  In this case, the woman must push/pull more strongly, using the man's technique, and she must take more lively steps, or jump, instead of taking only the step that I show in the following.

Woman's Step

1.  Left in place (for the first time, when entering the turn; otherwise:

     Left to the left/forward—clockwise—around the circle for each subsequent pivot

2.  Right beside left—together—and pivot clockwise.

3.  Right to the right clockwise.

To repeat, for the woman:

With a man using sufficient centripetal force, the woman's steps can be easy, as above.

To aid a man's knees, back, etc., #1 and #3 can be big  steps or small leaps. 

To further help the turn get done, a woman can push with her left hand (at his high arm) and pull with her right arm (at his waist).  And she can employ the man's power pivot if he isn't doing so.

The sequence goes like this:

Man      =  Right,  Left,         Together,  Repeat

Woman  = Left,    Together,  Right,      Repeat

As you can see, foot-sequence is the same, but out of phase, and subtle differences emerge for man and woman in each couple, as height, weight, dexterity, energy, knees, etc. influence how the turn actually gets done.

Music for the Pols

Hambo music, which I guess is more available, would work for the pols.  And I have in mind a public-domain American tune that would do very nicely.  True pols music is to be desired, however, to fit the dance best, especially the following two LPs, if available.

Gordon Tracie, who was based in Seattle, produced two wonderful LPs, copies of which I possess.  They have the following dances:

Nordiska Danser,  RCA, INTS 1242, Victrola stereo, Side 1, Band"Morapolska;" Side 1, Band 4, "Pols fra Osterdalen;" Side 2, Band 5, "Byggnan."

Dans i Dalom, Odeon (EMI), E 054-34262, Side 1, Band 1, "Polska fran Leksand;" Side 1, Band 5, "Polska fran Boda:" Side 2, Band 4, "Jonslarsfars Polska."

Of the above, bands 2 and 4 on Nordiska Danser are my favorites, incomparably grander, and band 4 is slower.  They (and all the rest except Byggnan) are of the “gammal” style, meaning older style.  Gammal music is smoother with more violins, and to be technically correct, it calls for a slightly different arm hold, and no dipping;, but that hold is not equilateral, for it requires much more power from the man, and Penelope and Odysseus should be equal, hence they dance the pols rather than the gammal pols.  Byggnan is music for the pols itself.

I have a third LP, Swedish Polkas and Hambos, Capital International Series, SP-1039.  Although hambos, the following bands will do for a pols:  Side 1, Hambo fran Dalarna, and Side 2, Svedala Hambo.  The former is slower and with smoother violins, more like a gammal.  The latter is fast and lively.

International folk dance groups or Scandinavian societies ought to be able to provide help with music too.

Notes

1.    Pols and Polska

I had hoped to avoid using the name "polska," to avoid any confusion with "polka," but I had to use it to identify the music on Gordon Tracie’s LPs, which may exist only on some other-numbered recording, so here's a further explanation.  As Gordon Tracie explained it, in a workshop with the Princeton Folk Dance Group (Tuesday Night) in or around 1970, "pols" is Norwegian, "polska" is Swedish, two names for the same dance.  I prefer "pols" because 1) Homer seems to describe a Norwegian fjord, and 2) "pols" sounds less like "polka."  However, four of the five bands listed above are, of course, titled “polska.” 

I make these distinctions because I know that the peoples and nations of the region called Scandinavia guard their separate identities.

2.  Gammal Style

In the "gammal" ("old") style, the man's left arm is extended to the left with bent elbow and grasps the woman's right upper arm, which similarly extends and grasps his left arm; meaning that the man’s left arm and woman’s right arm are roughly in a horizontal plane, parallel to the floor.  Her left arm rests on his right shoulder, while his right arm extends forward to reach around her left side to her back.

The major centripetal force comes through his right arm (starting from the legs, of course), with much less from his left (and her right) arm.  

The music is much smoother than the usual pols, with smooth violins, and the man's left arm/woman's right arm stay (ideally) in the same plane as they rotate around each other.  That is, no dipping.

With much less strength coming from arms and legs to facilitate the turn, a gammal pols is thus much more difficult to do than the pols, but the music I have listed above is incomparably grander.  If something like that music can be used in this play, I would have the couple dance the pols to gammal music; else, pols/polska music.  Absent both, some hambo music for the pols would do.

3.    Hambo

In the hambo, as noted above, the actual turning is the same.  Technically, the man and woman enter it at a different place in the turn, but in case only someone who knows just the hambo is available, I have written the instructions for the pols to help a hambo dancer get the pols, while not misrepresenting the pols.. 

And in the hambo, the man's hands reach around the woman's waist and partially around the back, for a much stronger centripetal grip.  The woman's hands are on the man shoulders, with no pulling power at all.  Responsibility for the turn is thus entirely the man's, given the hand placements, though the woman can help greatly with lively leaps instead of modest steps. The non-turning part is different, and the sequence of walking then turning is fixed, not variable.

 (When I danced with the Princeton Folk Dance Group (Tuesday night) from 1967 to 1978, we had hambo recordings of old folk tunes; one actually turned up in an episode of “Bonanza.”  In a flashback, Hoss’s mother-to-be hummed the tune.  It would be public domain.)

End of Dance Instructions