“Picnic Polka” was a companion piece to the 1953 dance “Banjo,” with which it was always performed under the title “Picnic Polka: Banjo.” Both dances were done to piano pieces by Louis Moreau Gottschalk – “Picnic Polka” to the piano duet “Ses yeux” played by John Cage and David Tudor, and “Banjo” to the virtuosic piano solo “Le Banjo” played by Tudor. The dance premiered on a one-night engagement at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.