Carlotta Grisi and Jules Perrot in the Polka. Lithograph coloured by hand by Blau after a drawing by J Bouvier, ca.1845

Against a background of towers and onion domes stand a two dancers. The female dancer stands with her weight on her right leg, the left to the side with the heel of the foot to the ground and the foot flexed upwards; her body is half turned to her left, her head turned to the viewer and inclined towards her right shoulder; her hands are clasped and rest on her partner's shoulder. She wears a pale red fez with a white decoration from the crown; her pale red bodice has a wide V neck edged in black, long sleeves and small fringed cap oversleeves; the body and lower sleeves are decorated with braids and lace. Around the waist is tied a black fringed sash, the ends falling into the white bell-shaped, knee-length skirt. On her feet she wears pale red ankle boots with a tiny heel, fringed at the top and with white heel flashings. Her partner stands to her right, his feet in a similar pose, his hands on his hips, and looking out at the viewer. On his head is a pale red square cap with a tassel. He wears a long-sleeved, pale red skirted jacket, reaching to mid-thigh; at the neck is a small white collar with a knotted black fringed tie, otherwise the body is styled and decorated as his partner's bodice. Around his waist is tied a black fringed sash, the ends falling into the skirt, which is edged at the hem and up the front opening with black lines. On his feet are heelless, calf-length, pale red boots, edged in white, with heel spurs.

Given by Dame Marie Rambert

The Polka was originally a Bohemian folk dance. Jules Perrot and Carlotta Grisi introduced it to London in April 1844 and created an immediate sensation. Their pictures were everywhere, not only as prints, but on ceramics and on music sheets. Soon it stormed the ballrooms and became one of the most popular social dances of the century.
The print is part of the collection of dance prints amassed by Marie Rambert and her husband, Ashley Dukes in the first half of the 20th century. Eventually numbering 145 items, some of which had belonged to the ballerina Anna Pavlova, it was one of the first and most important specialist collections in private hands.
Rambert bought the first print as a wedding present but could not bear to give it away. As the collection grew, it was displayed in the bar of the Mercury Theatre, the headquarters of Ballet Rambert, but in 1968, Rambert gave the collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum; seven duplicates were returned to Rambert, but these are catalogued in Ivor Guest's A Gallery of Romantic Ballet, which was published before the collection came to the V&A. Although often referred to as a collection of Romantic Ballet prints, there are also important engravings of 17th and 18th century performers, as well as lithographs from the later 19th century, by which time the great days of the ballet in London and Paris were over.

The dancers wear red and white, the national colours of Poland and the man wears the czapska, or Polish dancer's cap. The military hint to her costume implies she might be a vivandière, one of the women accompanying armies on campaign, selling them liquor and supplies. The spurs and gold flashes on the heels were used by the dancers almost like castanets, emphasising the clicks as the heels were brought together in a movement characteristic of the national dances of Eastern Europe.
The Polka was originally a Bohemian folk dance. Jules Perrot and Carlotta Grisi introduced it to London in April 1844 and created an immediate sensation. Their pictures were everywhere, not only as prints, but on ceramics and on music sheets. Soon it stormed the ballrooms and became one of the most popular social dances of the century. Today, it is generally remembered as the dance taught by Anna to the King of Siam in the musical The King and I.

E.5021-1968