A courting dance for couples as well, it begins with a slow section (lassu), followed by an exhilarating fast section (friss). The individual dancers carry themselves proudly and improvise on a simple fundamental step, their feet snapping inward and outward, the couples whirling. The music, often played by a Gypsy orchestra, is in 2/4 or 4/4 time with compelling, syncopated rhythms. The Czàrdàs developed in the 19th century from an earlier folk dance, the "Magyar Kör", a ballroom dance adapted from the Czàrdàs popular in eastern Europe. A theatrical czardas with complicated Slavic and Hungarian folk-dance steps also appears in Lèo Delibes’ ballet "Coppèlia". Franz Liszt, in his Hungarian Rhapsodies, wrote music reminiscent of the czardas.

The Csàrdàs is characterized by a variation in tempo: it starts out slowly (lassú) and ends in a very fast tempo (friss, literally "fresh"). There are other tempo variations, called ritka csàrdàs, sürü csàrdàs and szökös csàrdàs. The music is in 2/4 or 4/4 time. The dancers are both male and female, with the women dressed in traditional wide skirts, usually colored red, which form a distinctive shape when they whirl. The original folk csàrdàs, as opposed to the later international variants, is enjoying a revival in Hungary thanks to the tànchàz movement.

Marika Rökk, Hungarian Dancer/Singer Superstar View Famous hungarian dancer Marika Rökk - daughter of hungarian architect and contractor Eduard Rökk and his wife Maria Karoly - was actually born in Cairo, Egypt, but spent her early childhood in Budapest before her family moved to Paris in 1924. Here she learned to dance and starred with the Hoffman Girls at the Moulin Rouge Cabaret. After a tour that led her to Broadway, she continued her dance training in the United States. As an acclaimed revue dancer on numerous european stages, Marika Rökk was selected as the ideal candidate to be groomed and promoted as this new type of star and in 1934 was offered a 2-year contract with the UFA in Germany where she became one of the most prolific film stars of the time. In her appearance, she cultivated her "Magyar" accent conveying a notion of "Paprika" exoticism. Her films, that were not overtly political, were also popular in wider parts of Europe. She reached the peak of her career in 1944 with the star role in The Woman of My Dreams", a lavishly enacted musical colour film directed by Georg Jacoby. After the war in 1948, she was among the first recipients of the German "Bambi" media award. Rökk became one of Europe's most famous operetta singers, performing on stage until 1986. On May 16th 2004, Marika Rökk died of a heart attack at 90 years of age in Baden near Vienna, Austria.

John v. Neumann Bela Bartok Franz Liszt Ferenc Puskas