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 ...

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!— ...