Feature: Save the Last Dance For Me: The polka chinata returns, the same but different

Dance International

In the Italian folk dance the polka chinata, two men embrace, bending their knees and spinning in circles low to the ground. The Bolognese courtship dance from the early 1900s is difficult, exhausting, and requires hours of training to perfect. “It’s about how to deal with the weight of each other, how to maintain equilibrium together,” Alessandro Sciarroni explains.

The Italian choreographer, the 2019 recipient of the Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Dance, came across the polka chinata (chinata means bent down or crouching) in 2018 and was immediately fascinated by it …