Chapter 2 | THE POLONAISE

The polonaise is a very cheerful dance ritual in which you walk behind each other in a string, with your hands on the shoulders of the person in front of you. The polonaise is often danced during carnival. A special  example of such a dance is a drawing by Amos Bad Heart Bull, an Oglala Lakota Indian who lived from 1868 to 1913. With these Indians the dance had a ceremonial/religious meaning; perhaps they believed the dance brought good weather, peace and enough food.

EXTRA 1: draw a polonaise. Make up your own fantasy figures or choose this model figure as a basis.

In a beautiful drawing for the NRC by the Dutch illustrator Leonieke Fontijn, the figures have enormous legs and hands and very small heads.

Perhaps Leonieke Fontijn’s drawing was inspired by a 1568 painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder: six men walking in a row, holding each other by the shoulder. In Brueghel’s work, however, it’s not a conga line; instead, they depict blind men from a biblical story struggling to find their way. Unfortunately, they’re not doing so well. The “leader” has fallen, and the one behind him, due to the pushing and shoving, almost has as well. The meaning is that you shouldn’t blindly follow leaders, as that can lead to bad outcomes.

EXTRA 2: draw a polonaise in which the figures from Leonieke Fontijn’s drawing push or pull each other too hard. The last one in line is still walking upright, but the ones in front has already (almost) fallen over.