Jenkka

{{Short description|Finnish partner dance}}

{{More citations needed|date=October 2023}}

Jenkka ({{IPA|fi|ˈjeŋkːɑ}}) is a fast{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} Finnish partner dance found in Finnish folk dance,{{cite journal|author=Paul Austerlitz |title=Birch-Bark Horns and Jazz in the National Imagination: The Finnish Folk Music Vogue in Historical Perspective |journal=Ethnomusicology |volume=44 |number=2 |year=2000 |pages=183–213 |jstor=852529|doi=10.2307/852529}} the Finnish version of the schottische.{{cite journal|author=Inkeri Rank|title=Review: Hiski Salomaa; Amerikansuomalaisia levytyksiä 1927-1932 (Finnish-American Folk and Popular Music 1927-1932)|journal=Ethnomusicology |volume=16 |number=3 |year=1972 |pages=566–69|doi=10.2307/850220|jstor=50220}} It is danced to music in Time signature or 4/4 time time signature, with about 140 beats per minute.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} The dance arose in the mid-19th century, and was being danced in rural areas in the 1960s.{{cite journal|author=Helmi Järviluoma|title=From Manchuria to the Tradition Village: On the Construction of Place via Pelimanni Music |journal=Popular Music |volume=19 |number=1 |year=2000 |pages=101–24 |doi=10.1017/S0261143000000076 |jstor=853714|s2cid=162778071 }}

Men and women do similar steps. The initial dance position is with the man to the left of the woman both facing in the direction of the line of dance, with their inner arms on each other's waists. The dancers go forward in a run similar to that of the polka: "left-right-left-hop (on the left foot)", "right-left-right-hop". After that they join the free arms, assume the face-to-face closed dance position and proceed with the chain of pivot turns stepping "left-right-left-right" or "left-hop-right-hop". The runs of similar steps are normally started at the beginnings of musical phrases.

Finnish actor and musician Georg Malmstén composed many jenkkas.