This past weekend I got into an interesting online discussion about the definition of polka mazurka, during which one person sniffed that it was merely waltz invading mazurka. That's not actually true in the original technical sense of the dance, but late nineteenth-century French dancing masters did note some things people did as "polka mazurka" that bore no resemblance at all to the original steps. One of those things was the version supposedly done at public balls in Paris (by the lower classes), as opposed to in private salons (by the upper class). It was not
"codified", complained the dancing masters. It was "untidy". But at least it did not lack grace if the movements were "rapid and regular"...[dance steps, sources, and commentary behind the cut]