The polka, a lively couples dance in 2/4 time, had developed from folk roots and became a European popular dance craze in the 1840s. In elite Paris salons and in humble village squares and taverns ...

Once associated with the plague, the polka dot jhas become a wardrobe power-player for everyone from Minnie Mouse to Kate Middleton.

The kinetic pattern mirrored the energetic polka dance that swept Europe in the 1840s, a time of political rebellions across the continent. The fast-paced polka, which required men to—gasp!— ...