How to play
- Participants
- Four dancers, or two couples, for each star.
- Space
- A level area where each couple can step and turn without colliding with others.
- Equipment
- Music suitable for this version, or a live musician · A leader who demonstrates the movements and musical section boundaries before starting
- Starting formation
- All four extend right hands towards the centre at shoulder height and join them in a star. Left hands remain free.
- Section I, bars 1–7: move the star clockwise. Take one walking or running step on each quarter-note beat; the metre is 2/4.
- Section I, bar 8: stop and clap three times, counting one-and-two.
- Section I, bars 9–16: repeat the travelling and clapping in the opposite direction. Teaching choice: after clapping, form the star with left hands; the source does not separately specify this hand change.
- Section II, bars 1–16: join your partner and dance a polka. The separate step exercise below helps with preparation; a leader must demonstrate the hold, opposite partner footwork and couple turn.
Ending: On a repeat, form a star with the same or another couple. For a workshop, agree a signal to finish after a complete polka section; that stopping rule is an organisational choice.
Documented version: The LNKC electronic book’s star-and-polka version, with no waltz section.
Getting ready
Choose the two couples in each group before the music starts. Practise the star at walking pace; learning the polka is a separate prerequisite.
A preparatory polka step exercise
This separate exercise follows the Vėdaras notes documenting Vyts Beliajus’s teaching in Let’s Dance, May 1972, p. 20. It is a supplementary teaching source; LNKC’s Malūnėlis description does not specify a polka technique.
With your weight on the left foot, hop on it just before the bar. Count one-and-two while taking small running steps right-left-right, transferring your full weight each time. Before the next bar, hop on the right, then step left-right-left. Continue alternating.
This exercise explains one dancer’s rhythm. It does not teach the couple turn: beginners still need a knowledgeable leader to learn the whole Malūnėlis.
Which version are we learning?
The LNKC electronic book’s star-and-polka version, with no waltz section.