Kujawiak

The dance typically involves couples walking gracefully in a quarter-note rhythm, on slightly bended knees, with relaxed turns, around a circle.

[3] In 1841, Leon Zienkowicz described the kujawiak as a "regional variety of the mazurka relying on the domination of the minor key".

[4] The majority of the composers in the years following, including Ignacy Dobrzyński, Edward Łodwigowski, Kazimierz Łada, Ignacy Komorowski, Wojciech Osmański, and Henryk Wieniawski, agreed with this interpretation, and treated the musical features like the rhythms and tempos of the kujawiak and the oberek as a "single entity".

[6] Though the dance began in the villages and peasantry, it was embraced by the landed gentry and nobility due to its beauty.

They collected and published Kujawiak melodies, and invited the village musicians and dancers to their manors to learn the dance.

[7] In 1990, Czesław Sroka published Polskie tańce narodowe – systematyka (Polish National Dances: A Typology).

[5] The kujawiak was originally danced "with a calm dignity and simplicity, in a smooth flowing manner “reminiscent of the tall grain stalks in the fields swaying gently in the wind".

[6]The kujawiak's steps are performed on relaxed, slightly bent knees, with toes placed on the floor first before the rest of the foot.

Ornamental steps should not be repeated too many times throughout a sixteen-measure phrase; rather, they should be unexpected embellishments in the dance's chain of events.

[12] The colorful stripes on the women's skirts and aprons and the men's pants, called pasiak, represent the farmers' fields.

The folk costume of the Kujawiak men consists of a long navy coat called a sukmana with a large collar, broad blue pants, boots, a wide belt, high boots, and a square hat lined with fur called a rogatywka.

[9] Women wore navy jackets with a small cape around their shoulders, flowery skirts with an apron in a contrasting color, and a red scarf tied as a tight turban around the head.