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COWBOY DANCES |
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Sweep, point, step,
Sweep, point, step,
Turn together and point back,
Stveep, point, step,
Sioeep, point, step,
Turn together and point front.
Turn back to back, point back,
Turn back to back, point front,
Turn back to back, point back,
Turn back to back, point front.
The rhythm of this call is a little tricky, but with practice it works, and without it beginners turn in wild confusion and get all mixed up.
The Polka
Another old-time round dance that is regularly used in the West is the polka—which is often called the "pokey" in cowboy parlance, perhaps from the square dance figure "Three by three in the pokey oh, three by three and on we go." If one traces back through the New England and European varieties of the polka he can get into deep water in a discussion of just what the polka is. But the Western dance by that name is extremely simple.
The couple stands side by side, either in the waist-shoulder position with the man's right arm around the lady's waist and her left hand on his shoulder, or in the cross-shoulder position, as in the Varsouvianna, where the man holds the lady's left hand in his left at the height of her shoulder and, crossing his right hand behind and over her right shoulder, holds her lifted right hand lightly in this position.
The music is Jenny Land's Favorite Polka, which can be found in the Pioneer Collection of Old-Time Dances above referred to. In the West I have only heard the first sixteen measures, which are repeated over and over. The last twenty-four measures are never used.
The usual form of the dance is for each partner to stand with his weight on his left foot, and reaching forward with |
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