Polka Pirate Jimi keeps Minnesota dancing alive

Richard Chin, Tribune News Service

What kind of person can coax shy, diffident Minnesotans to boogie down on the dance floor? He’s a pirate and he calls himself Jimi Jimi Jimi, the Polka Dancing Pirate. If there’s an Oktoberfest event at the Germanic-American Institute in St. Paul, a polka mass at St. Boniface Catholic Church in northeast Minneapolis or a taping of a public access television polka dance show, Jimi Jimi Jimi will likely be there, dressed as a pirate, ready to polka and ready to teach you how to do it too. “I want to keep the polka music alive the best I can,” said Jimi Jimi Jimi, the Twin Cities’ unofficial polka ambassador.

Jimi Jimi Jimi started life as James Parker, a self-described blue-collar guy from northeast Minneapolis who made cabinets and only danced at weddings.

He used to make his living with his hands, but now he earns money with his feet as a freelance dance instructor. He became a pirate dance instructor after he attended the Minnesota Renaissance Festival dressed like a pirate. He later went in the same outfit to an Oktoberfest event at Gasthof zur Gemutlichkeit in Minneapolis.

He was dancing at the historic German restaurant when someone said, “Hey, there’s a polka dancing pirate!” And a shtick was born.

Parker’s journey to becoming a dance instructor started in 2005, when outsourcing to China killed his main source of income building fixtures for stores and trade shows. He closed his shop and began looking around for something to keep himself active.

He said some of his former employees were from Mexico and he was interested in Latin American culture, especially cumbia dance music.

“I just really loved that music,” he said. So he started taking classes to learn how to dance cumbia, bachata, salsa and other Latin dances.

He spent time in Latin America, studying dances in Havana and Mexico. He also gravitated to the square dancing, contra dancing and Balkan folk dance scenes. “I learned everybody’s dances,” he said. “I’ll find a dance that I like and I’ll dive into it head first.” One of the places where he learned was the Social Dance Studio in Minneapolis.

The owner there, Joy Davina, suggested to Parker that he could become a dance instructor.

“I think she saw something in me,” Parker said. “I really love people. I have a really good way of connecting with people.” In 2009, after some training, Parker began to teach Latin and ballroom dancing at the Social Dance Studio. He also became one of the first Zumba teachers at local YMCAs. He began to get jobs teaching and choreographing dances for newlyweds who wanted to perform a showy first dance at their wedding reception.

“I’ve done a ton of weddings,” he said. He taught polka dancing in a pirate costume at the dance studio. He started teaching polka and waltzes at the Germanic-American Institute. “I’ve taught hundreds of people as part of Oktoberfest,” he said. “I am pretty much always in a pirate persona. I’ll wear a vest, a pirate-y kind of vest.”

He decided to refer to himself as Jimi Jimi Jimi because a trainer at the YMCA told him that one way to connect with a student at a class was to say that person’s name three times. Parker said he will usually dance at events or classes five days a week, sometimes twice in one day, on top of practice.

A typical week: Wednesday afternoon taking a Zumba class at Tapestry Folkdance Center in Minneapolis, followed by teaching a polka class in the evening.

Thursday, a Latin dance lesson at the Eagles Club in Minneapolis. Friday night, Latin dance at the Four Seasons Dance Studio in Minneapolis. Saturday morning, more Zumba. Saturday afternoon, an Oktoberfest polka gig in a bar. Saturday evening, a contra dance at Tapestry.

Sunday, dancing at the 331 Club. Monday, it’s square dance, contra dance or techno contra dance.

“It’s a great way to socially connect and stay physically fit,” Parker said of his dancing. He’s especially busy during this time of year, when Jimi Jimi Jimi is dancing polka polka polka from the end of the Minnesota State Fair until Halloween at the multiple Oktoberfests around the state. “Just kind of keeping the party going,” he said.

“He’s a good teacher,” said Eryn Tvete, office manager of the Germanic-American Institute, where Parker is a regular instructor. “He kind of has this fun spirit that’s really encouraging for people to dance.” Emilie Dall said Parker choreographed and taught her and her wife Maddy a Viennese waltz that they danced at their wedding in 2024. “There was lots of movement, lots of twisting,” Dall said. “It went great. It was really lovely. Jimi got all misty-eyed.” Ben Kowalsky-Grahek said lessons from Parker gave his dance-shy wife the confidence to waltz and polka at their marriage at the Germanic-American Institute in 2015. He said Parker came to the wedding dressed like a pirate. “We insisted,” Kowalsky-Grahek said. “It’s been 10 years and they still talk about it today.”

He said seeing a pirate dancing a polka loosens up normally shy Minnesotans to get on the dance floor too. “When you’re dancing, you say, ‘I don’t want to look silly,’” he said. “But there’s a man dressed like a pirate. How can I look silly?” Kowalsky-Grahek said he now has a 5-year-old daughter who has polka danced with Parker. “Wherever there’s polka, there is Jimi,” he said. One place where Jimi Jimi Jimi is a regular is Polka Spotlight, a public access television show that tapes once a month at the CCX Media studios in Brooklyn Park. The show, which airs daily at noon on Channel 6, features dozens of couples dancing around a studio to a live band for an hour with interviews of dancers between songs.

It’s basically like American Bandstand, except instead of rock and roll, it’s polka. And some of the dancers look old enough to have been teenage dancers when Dick Clark was first on the air. “I guess you could call them groupies of the polka show,” said Yvonne Viehman, an associate producer and one of the hosts of the show. “It’s happy hour for seniors. Sixty minutes of pure fun.” Viehman said Parker tries to make it to every show.

“He’s kind of the pulse of the polka community,” she said. “He’s just a vibrant member of the community.” Parker said he’s in his mid-60s. Typical dancers at the Polka Spotlight show are between the ages of 50 and 85, according to Viehman and her husband and co-host Dan Viehman.