The description of the _lavolta_ in Sir John Davies's poem on dancing, _The
Orchestra_ (1596), shows that it must have closely resembled the dance
which we fondly boast of as one of the great inventions of the nineteenth
century. It runs as follows:
"Yet is there one, the most delightful kind,
A lofty jumping, or a leaping round,
Where arm in arm two dancers are entwined,
And whirl themselves with strict embracements bound;
And still their feet an anapæst do sound;
An anapæst is all their music's song,
Whose first two feet are short, and third is long."
The "anapæst" is conclusive; it points exactly to the peculiar nature of
the polka, the pause on the _third_ step. Moreover, it appears, that as
there is no especial figure for the polka, so there was none for the
lavolta; for it is classed among those dances
"Wherein that dancer greatest praise has won,
Which, with best order, can all orders shun;
For everywhere he wantonly must range,
And turn and wind with unexpected change."
Who can doubt after that? The polka was certainly danced before Queen
Elizabeth!
To this valuable historical parallel I may add that the galliard and
coranto also were apparently danced _ad libitum_ (observing only a
particular measure), just as our waltz and galop also are:
"For more diverse and more pleasing show,
A swift, a _wandering_ dance, he [Love] did invent,
With _passages uncertain_ to and fro,
Yet with a certain answer and consent,
To the quick music of the instrument."