The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Mazurka

MAZURKA, a lively Polish national dance, popular also in the United States. The movements are of a grotesque character. The term is also applied to the music which accompanies the dance, sometimes in three-eighths time, hut for the most part in three-fourths. The mazurka is danced by four or eight couples. Augustus III brought the mazurka to Germany, whence it was learned by the French and finally about the middle of the 19th century it acquired considerable popularity in England. The music of the dance has taken its modern form from Chopin.