The polka

Coupon in hand for $1 off the price of a box of Via sticks (good until July 31), I drove to our closest Starbucks (25 minutes away in Belleville) an hour and a half before the coupon would expire. Box of columbian in hand and a free upgrade 'americano' - offered after the barista said, "we're out of coffee; do you want to wait for a new pot to brew or have a cafe americano at the same price?" - I turned to exit the store.

On my way toward the door, a friendly middle-aged man fairly ran up to me, bluntly asking "What is that dance they do at Oktoberfest?". He demonstrated by gesticulating with one arm held above his head, the other rounded in front, while his body did a sort of shimmy. Pleasant fellow - kind of sweet! I replied "the polka?" which elicited an excited "YES!" as he ran back to his table of waiting friends, both male and female, repeating "polka!"

The Anto boys - my dad and his brothers, around 1936

I left happy to have been of help in some conversation point or perhaps game, and then wondered why I had answered with a question mark in my voice. I knew with certainty that it was the polka. If there's anything I know at all, it's the polka! I've danced more polka in my life than ballet.

I suppose the questioning tone to my reply had more to do with my incredulity that anyone would not know, or, as in this fellow's case, could not remember the most wonderful dance in the world, the polka!

As I sipped my fresh cup of brew in the car, I thought about all the polka in my life. It began before I was born, hearing my father and uncles play at family get-togethers on their accordions. My father taught me to dance the polka (as well as the waltz and all the other common dances of the day) and I became a folk dancer in my teens and a folk dance teacher at age 21.

Raimond Valgre skulptuur Pärnus

Doing the polka evokes all that is joyful in life, including the accordion, the instrument we danced it to. The sound of the accordion today takes me back to my childhood and my family and if I'm alone, or at home with my hubby and children, often makes me cry at the memory of what once was.

So it was that I sat sobbing in the car with my cafe americano (also apt since most of my polka days were in the States) thinking about my father, his brothers, the accordion, and dancing the polka. Back when I was young I could dance every dance all night long without breaking a sweat or being out of breath. These days I know about endorphins and their effect.

The polka releases endorphins you didn't know were in you! Were someone to ask what my favourite dance and/or music is, my answer, without hesitation or question, is an emphatic, unilateral: POLKA!
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Here is my post about our family and what the accordion meant to us - from my other blog, "Legwarmers and tiaras":

"My love affair with the accordion"