a Hungarian folk dance performed by couples to 2/4 time. The czardas, which appeared in the mid-19th century, consists of one slow section and one fast, impetuous section. It has syncopated rhythms, and many steps are improvised. The czardas served as the basis of ballroom dance that became popular in Russia in the early 20th century as the vengerka. Musical reworkings of the czardas are found in Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies, Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, Delibes’s Coppélia, and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.