The History of the Hungarian Dance

We know very little about the dances of the ancient Hungarians. We may conclude however that their dances were religious in origin. The religion of the ancient Hungarians was related to that of their ethnic relatives, the Bulgarians, Turks, and Kazars. This included a belief in the soul - the chief doctrine of which centred round ancestor worship. According to their belief it was the magic of the ancestors that protected their descendants. On the other hand, if the souls of the ancestors were not appeased, disease, death by pestilence, or elemental dangers would beset their descendants. Ancestor worship also demanded funeral ceremonies and feasts in honour of the dead. These consisted in the performance of certain rites in connection with which it was customary to dance the Dance of Death. The custom of the funeral feast and the Dance of Death became such an integral part of ancestor worship with the ancient Hungarians that their descendants performed these ceremonies, either publicly or in secret, for many centuries after the imposition of Christianity. We do not know how the Dance of Death was performed by the ancient Magyars, but it is probable that the war-dance played a considerable role in it, especially when the funeral of a hero was being celebrated.

The priests of the ancient Hungarians were the Táltosok, who possessed great knowledge and wisdom. They made offerings at holy wells, springs, and holy trees and on altars built of stones. These ceremonies were accompanied by the singing of magic phrases, and the beating of drums. Oxen and sheep were used as sacrificial animals, and on great feast days a white horse was offered up and consumed at the feast which followed the ceremony of sacrifice. This feast was called Áldomás and was followed by praise of the heroic deeds of their ancestors in honour of whom dances were performed. On these occasions war-dances were also performed.

All the data we have concerning the dances of the ancient Hungarians is a contemporary description of their raid on St. Gallen. According to the Chronicle of the Monk Eckehard (980-1060), the Hungarians after the Áldomás in the monastery of St. Gallen gathered and danced, and wrestled in wild sport before their leaders. By wrestling he meant a kind of war-dance performed with weapons in hand.

The Hungarians always danced to the accompaniment of music and song, and consequently we must assume that the ancient Hungarians were in possession of songs which provided the rhythm for their dances. These songs however, were banned completely because of their "pagan" nature when Christianity was imposed, and are now lost. It is a fact, vouched for by history, that the Hungarians, when they entered the Carpathian Basin, brought three musical instruments with them, the drum, the pipe, and the fiddle. These instruments provided the music for their dances and gave them a rhythm which corresponded to their ethnic character. Among these musical instruments the drum is supposed to be the most ancient. It was used in religious ceremonies as a means of arousing a state of religious ecstasy. A favourite musical instrument of the ancient Hungarians was the pipe, which in the course of time developed into the Tárogató and the fiddle which has played a most prominent part in our dance music. In their ancestral home the ancient Hungarians made and used their musical instruments themselves.

After the imposition of Christianity, and up to the XVIth century, we find an increasing number of authentic documents furnishing proof of the existence of the Hungarian dance and of the Hungarian passion for dancing; but besides simply mentioning the fact, they give no explanations of any value.

According to the Viennese Pictorial Chronicle, when the Bohemian King Ottokar was conquered by Rudolf von Habsburg with the assistance of the Hungarian King, László IV, in 1278, the Hungarian King ordered that the day of the Bohemian King's slaying should be celebrated lavishly throughout the kingdom, and that the people should do nothing that day except dance. Various data concerning László IV (Kun László), mention that he was very fond of feasting and dancing, especially when he was in the company of his beloved Cumanian people.

Very interesting was the decision of the 46th Synod at Buda in 1279. In terms thereof the priests were ordered not to allow the people to dance in the churchyards or the churches. This decision is evidence of traces of the pagan custom of dancing in honour of the dead.

At the courts of the Hungarian kings the adoption of foreign customs became fashionable at a very early date, and these customs slowly ousted the Hungarian dances. The Hungarian kings had heard from their ambassadors about the pomp and splendour of the courts in foreign lands and, later on, they came into closer contact with those courts through marriage. This is the reason why the households of the Hungarian kings slowly took on a western pattern. They sent for foreign artists and men of letters, singers, and learned musicians, and gave them appointments. They chose foreign masters of ceremony, whose task was to arrange the court festivities. The royal court was filled with knights and ladies of foreign origin, who introduced foreign customs and foreign dances. Already the court of the Árpád Dynasty began to show traces of foreign influence. This influence grew under the rule of the Anjous. At that time the Hungarian court became thoroughly Italianised. The Italian language, Italian music and Italian dances predominated.

This influence was augmented by the Italian campaigns, when whole armies spent years in Italy. The Hungarian soldiers learned the Italian dances and brought them home with them. Under the reign of the Anjous the Hungarian court vied in splendour with the great courts of foreign princes. Foreign ambassadors at the court of King Mátyás the Just spoke of the Hungarian dance with the greatest admiration.

These historical facts show that from ancient times up to the XVI century the Hungarian people had always been fond of dancing ; but we have no reliable data whatever concerning the actual Hungarian dances then in practice. We can only conclude what they were like from the dances of nations akin to the Hungarians, from the fact that the Hungarians, with their ethno-linguistic and cultural conservatism and steadfastness, must have adhered to the original forms, and from the Hungarian songs with their characteristic rhythms. The Hungarian folk songs were usually in double measure, and the rhythm was either 4/8 or 2/4. The most ancient measure consisted of 8 syllables, strongly accentuated in the middle. The fragments of the old songs we possess are mostly written in this metre. The step of the Hungarian dance has been adapted to this rhythm. The onestep and the twostep Csárdás can only be danced to it. The same rhythms were maintained through the centuries; it seems certain, therefore, that the Hungarian dance has kept its basic steps and character and that if there have been any trifling changes in the figures, they are of no great importance. That the ethnic character of the Hungarian national dance has not been lost during all the more than 1000 years that Hungarians have lived on this soil, was proved by Mr. Herman Vámbéry, a student of Eastern civilizations. In his account of his travels in Central Asia, he speaks of some people living in the Ural-Altay and the Caucasus whose dances were astonishingly similar to ours both in rhythm and in character.

George Almásy when travelling in that region made the some observation. In his book: Vándorutam Azsia szívébe (My Wanderings in the Heart of Asia) he gives a vivid description of the dances of the Kirgizes, and says that they are remarkably similar to our own national dances.

The bards sang at the courts of the Hungarian noblemen; the nobles used to engage them and listen while they chanted verses and sang songs praising the deeds of the heroes. No gathering or festival was complete without them; they provided the music which followed the rich feasts. Their favourite instrument was the Koboz. It was an oval shaped, narrow-necked instrument with 4 or 5 strings of catgut or win. Later on came the bag-pipes. This was also a very popular musical instrument among the Hungarians. The Transylvanian princes and noblemen appointed pipers to their courts and the bag-pipes were used almost exclusively at their dances and other entertainments. Later on with the spread of stringed instruments the bag-pipes were only used as an accompaniment, and in the orchestras of today the bass viol takes their place.

With the conquering Turkish army the gypsies, a people of Indian origin, poured into Hungary. By virtue of their musical talent with the violin and the cymbalom they won favour with the Hungarian nation to such a degree that they have become the interpreters of our music. For a long time the gypsies were the musicians of the middle and the lower classes and were despised by the foreign, trained musicians engaged to play in their court orchestras by the princes and noblemen. The gypsies were left to entertain the common people, and devoted themselves exclusively to popular songs and music, both of which they have handed down to posterity. Some historians think it possible that the gypsies revived and spread again forgotten fragments of the ancient Hungarian songs and dance music which had passed into oblivion after the imposition of Christianity. We may therefore assume that among our old national songs there are also some fragments of the ancient Magyar songs and dance music.

The Hungarian Dance in the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries.

The nobility adopted new social customs in order to accentuate the class distinctions and to establish their own superiority. The consequence of this social separation was that the Hungarian dance fell into two categories, the dance of the nobles, or the aristocratic dance, and the popular dance. Presumably it was at this time the Hungarian slowstep, following the example of the Polish and French dances, developed into a round dance; the Hungarian dance steps and figures were retained, but the couples stood one behind the other in a circle, and advanced in a circle. By the XVIIth century the Hungarian nobility had a dance for noblemen which they called the Hungarian slowstep (lassú magyar) or the Palotás. It was a favourite in the houses of the nobility and also in the princely courts in Transylvania.

The Royal court under the reign of the Habsburgs was entirely German in character where customs, language, costume, music, and dances were concerned, and the Hungarian music and dances were consequently very rarely to be found at the court. The Hungarian noblemen attending the court were captivated by the splendour transplanted from the West. They admired the perfect music of the foreign orchestras, they were enchanted by the balls at the Royal court, where ladies and gentlemen in gorgeous dresses danced Italian, French, Spanish, and German dances. This rich splendour undermined national feeling and they became the admirers and imitators of foreign culture.

But in Transylvania the court of the Prince always preserved its Hungarian character. Numerous authentic contemporary documents prove that the Hungarian spirit was preserved alive in the homes of the Transylvanian nobles. Baron Péter Apor's (1676-1752) book entitled: Metamorphosis Transsylvaniae (1736) is proof of the fact that the Hungarian spirit was faithfully cherished at the courts of the princes and noblemen. They admired and loved the Hungarian songs and the Hungarian dances. They kept musicians, pipers, at their courts, who provided the music for their dances and feasts. From that book we also learn that the Transylvanian Prince, Michael Apafy, was very fond of dancing: I saw, writes Baron Peter Apor, the Prince dancing with his consort. The rest of the gentlemen rose from their seats and bowed whenever the Prince turned in their direction. The bagpipes provided beautiful music. The Prince danced slowly, in the Hungarian style, hardly lifting his feet as he danced.

Among the Transylvanian princes Imre Thököly was also a great dancer. He mentions in his journal that his favourite entertainment was music and dancing. Even during his exile in Turkey he continued to dance Hungarian dances. While in Bythia, he was visited by Paul Lucas, an envoy of Louis the Fourteenth, who reported that Hungarian dances were being danced in the Turkish court of the Prince. Paul Lucas gives an enthusiastic description of the way Kathleen Szõllõsy, the wife of the Prince's major domus danced.

At the court of Francis Rákóczi II, which was quite French in its pomp and splendour, the music was provided by a foreign orchestra consisting of trained musicians. We have no authentic information, however, about the dances in vogue there ; but it is probable, seeing the number of foreign diplomats and French officers that visited it, that the French and German dances then in fashion were the order of the day. But besides these, Hungarian dances may well have had their place. It is a generally known fact that there were many feasts and entertainments and also much dancing in the Kuruc camps.

The much beloved Prince entertained not only his captains and the aristocrats, but also the lesser nobility, and he had to provide them with opportunities of dancing. Numerous authentic data tell us that after eating dancing was usually indulged in at the court of the Prince. Tradition has it that there was a gypsy band in addition to the court orchestra, and that on these occasions the gypsies played old Hungarian songs and dance music.

But even if Hungarian songs and music did not play any important role at Rákóczi's court, they were all the more beloved by the Kuruc soldiers, the common people, and the lesser nobility, The Kuruc camps echoed with the wistfully sad, but beautiful melodies which were born of the struggle for liberty, led by Rákóczi and Tökhöly and than which no more beautiful songs have ever sounded on Hungarian lips. The Kuruc soldiers made the dreary days of camp life bearable with singing and dancing. They danced with verve the fine Kuruc dances, sometimes to the music of the Tárogató.

We find a reliable description of the dance of the Hungarian noblemen in a XVIIth century in a book of travels, the 'Ungarischer Simplicissimus' , published in 1683. The author was an itinerant student of Silesian origin, whose name, however, is not known to us. He writes of the Hungarian dance as he observed it, and describes it as follows: 'their dances are like a ballet, and they dance in a very charming and orderly way indeed, not like the Germans and French, who all the same think their own goat-like capers wonderful'.

A more detailed description of the XVIIth century Hungarian dances in vogue in Transylvania at the Prince's court is given by the Abbé Révérend, the ambassador of the French King Louis XIV who stayed for some time in Transylvania in 1689. He describes them as follows: 'all these dances consist more or less of what we call in France branles or contredanses. The dancing couples take hand and the first couple heads the row. The dance starts with a slowstep, then continues a little more briskly and finishes like a Gavotte. The gentleman embraces his partner with both hands and revolves with her several times, but he does not step out of the circle, so that in a large hall 7 or 8 gentlemen may revolve with their partners whilst the others form a perfect semi-circle round them'.

From contemporary accounts it may be ascertained that the Hungarian national slowstep (lassú), or Palotás, was a very gentle, dignified and solemn measure, the second part of which only was a little brisker.

In the second part of the XVIIth century the Hungarian dance slowly lost ground, not only in the castles of the oligarchs, but also in the homes of the lesser nobility, and was replaced by fashionable Western dances. The Hungarian noblemen and magnates very often visited the Imperial court and, inspired by an excess of loyalty to the King, they adopted German custom and manners. As only the fashionable German and French dances were in vogue at the Viennese court balls, the young noblemen who frequented the Viennese court introduced them into Hungary when they came home again. Young men who had been studying at foreign universities, artisans from abroad who had settled in the cities, and young Hungarians who had been soldiers in foreign parts involuntarily helped to spread and popularize foreign dances. The lowest classes of the people, however, the serfs, preserved the ancient Hungarian dance in all its rustic simplicity, without prejudice to its racial character.

The Hungarian dance underwent a further decline under the reign of Maria Theresa. Joseph II not only wanted to rob the Hungarian nation of its customs, but also of its language. He issued an order to the effect that German was to be the official language in Hungary. The awakening of national consciousness, however, swept the anti-Hungarian orders of Joseph II away and from that time the renaissance of the Hungarian dance set in. The orders of Joseph II were cancelled during the carnival of the year 1790. The joyful news spread very quickly and caused this carnival to be pronouncedly Hungarian in character. The provincial towns became centres of a national movement, and Hungarian patriots, in Hungarian costume, gathered in them to celebrate the national revival with Hungarian dances and Hungarian music.

In the first part of the XIXth century the Hungarian dance was again neglected in the ballrooms of the upper classes, and again it was the common people to whom the task of protecting and popularizing their national dance fell. At the balls of the higher classes the dance programmes were written in German; the Polonaise, Gavotte, Menuette, Russian Quadrille, Galoppe, Mazurka, Cotillon, Valse, Polka and French Quadrille were danced, and the language of conversation was exclusively German. In the first half of the last century the carnivals, not only in Pest, hut also in the provincial towns, were held mostly without the inclusion of the Hungarian dance in the programmes. In accounts of the balls given at that time, we do find occasional reference to the Hungarian dance, but only to improvisations or performances in which the general public took no share. The Hungarian Solo, for instance, was danced mostly at provincial balls during the hour of rest, if young people could be found enterprising enough to dance it. That the Hungarian Solo had continued to exist so long was chiefly due to provincial theatre companies. When such companies arrived at a provincial town they immediately advertised that they were ready to teach dancing. There were always actors in the company who were able to do so. These Hungarian actors, as dancing masters, taught the Hungarian Solo in addition to foreign dances and got the most skilful of their pupils to perform it in public at the closing examination.

That the Hungarian Solo was preserved in its original state was very important, because with it many ancient and beautiful Hungarian dance steps were saved from oblivion. We must search for the origin of the Hungarian Solo, partly in the Men's Solo, a figure danced to the slow measure of tbe Palotás, and partly in a Hungarian dance called the Toborzó, in which the recruiting sergeant acted as the leader of the dance, and showed his dexterity as a solo dancer in the various arabesques of that dance. The men's Hungarian Solo had no prescribed form, everybody danced it in his own way, but the solo dancer was bound to know the Hungarian dance steps well, and how to vary them, so that the dance required considerable practice.

It must be said that the Hungarians of the XIXth Century were not to blame for the Hungarian dances lapsing. It was their predecessors of a century earlier who, basking in the sunshine of the imperial court at Vienna, cared only for the foreign dances in fashion at that court and scorned the fine Hungarian ones. They neither practised them nor developed their artistic forms, but disowned them and consigned them to oblivion. It was the Hungarian peasants who preserved the Hungarian dance, even if they gave it a certain rustic simplicity.

These Hungarian dances were not able to gain a footing among the noble families or in the ballrooms of the aristocracy. Time was needed before they could become sufficiently refined and polished to find their way into the castles of the aristocracy. Patriots also were needed to put heart and soul into the development and evolution of the national dance.

Incidentally it is strange that we are indebted for the renaissance of the Hungarian national dance to the same class that a generation before looked on it with contempt. Those nobles who in the forties took up the national dance and worked with heart and soul to bring about its triumph, deserve all our admiration.

History of the Origin and Development of the Csárdás.

Almost a hundred years has elapsed since the most popular, the most typical Hungarian dance was created. From the point of view of the Hungarian dance, the age which preceded its creation was a very sad one, as only foreign dances were danced by the upper classes. The dance-programmes were in German, and German was the language of conversation. Hungarian dances were in vogue only among the villagers.

The renaissance of the Hungarian dance is coupled with the name of Count Stephen Széchényi. In 1839, at a ball in the National Casino, Count Stephen Széchényi, then at the height of his fame, objected to the fact that no Hungarian dances figured on the dance programmes. In an interval between dances he urged the Hungarian gentlemen to perform a real Hungarian dance. They glanced one at another in confusion, for none of them was able to do a Hungarian dance. In this awkward situation a landowner from Gyöngyös, Baron George Orczy, came to the rescue; before dancing began again he performed the dance of the Gyöngyös hoers, first alone and later with his charming sister, Baroness Elise Orczy. The beauty of this dance, however, was spoilt by the ineptness of the musical accompaniment. At that time the music in the National Casino was provided solely by the German Morelli Orchestra. Morelli did not know any Hungarian dance music, and consequently the music accompanying this first attempt was a failure.

At the next ball in the National Casino (National Club) several couples, encouraged by Count Stephen Széchényi, joined Baron Orczy and his sisters in a Hungarian dance. That they did so was due particularly to the zeal of Baron Béla Wenckheim, Stephen Kende Count Louis Forgách and Baron Stephen Orczy, but the task of introducing the new dances was not easy, and took a much longer time than is stated by some later reports.

The carnival of 1840 proved good soil for the new Hungarian dance. At that time our famous composer, Francis Liszt, was staying in Budapest, and on the 9th of January a great soirée was given in his honour in the roams of the National Club by the wives of the magnates. This soirée is recorded in the history of the National Club as the "Biborka evening". According to the account given by "Honmûvész", a periodical, this was one of the most splendid soirées held in the National Club. The Cotillion lasted till after midnight, then came supper. After supper the rooms resounded with Hungarian music, and inspired by it, some of the young ladies and gentlemen undertook to perform Hungarian dances. This proposal was greeted with a round of cheers. Ferenc Liszt was among those who applauded the loudest, and he seemed very pleased to think that it was be who had created a new epoch in the gaieties of the capital. This was the first time since the establishment of the National Club that a national dance had been danced in its ballroom. The Honmûvész reports two important incidents in connection with the carnival of 1841 in Pesth. One of these was the Jurists' Ball held in the rooms of the Pesth Redoute, at which the new Hungarian dance was performed by six couples in Hungarian costume. With regard to the other incident, the Honmûvész reports as follows: 'The Hungarian dance was performed before midnight at a ball given by the Hungarian National Club by 24 couples recruited from the aristocracy and the gentry. It was a praiseworthy achievement'.

The Regélõ, published an article about the Carnival of 1842, which gives a true picture of the position of the Hungarian dance in that year. The balls of the bourgeoisie in the Redoute remain German in character, but the largest and most famous ball, that of the law students, was held in a genuinely national spirit. Hungarian was the language of conversation and there were Hungarian dancers and Hungarian costumes. The new Hungarian society dance was named Csárdás by Count Béla Wenckheim to signify that it was identical with that performed in the Csárda, the Hungarian village inn, on Sundays by the peasant girls, where it was danced in its most original form. The Csárdás was received with acclamation in all quarters. The upper classes welcomed it because they felt it was their duty to the Hungarian nation to countenance and practice the national dance. It was also received with great joy by the common people because they saw it had its origin in their own national dance and they were proud that the upper classes had adopted and appreciated the beautiful national dance which they themselves felt to be an expression of their national culture.

In the years that followed, the Csárdás gained ground rapidly and was danced both in Pesth and in the Provinces. Besides the Csárdás the Hungarian Round Dance also became popular at this time. It was composed by Lajos Szabó Szöllõsy in 1839 and was a combination of old Hungarian steps and figures from old Hungarian dances. In the following years the Hungarian Round Dance became the most popular dance in Hungary, second to the Csárdás.

At the balls of the better classes, the view crystallized that Hungarian dances should be performed only in Hungarian costurnes with high boots and spurs. So the Hungarian costume was introduced. We are indebted for the success of the Hungarian dance not only to the young Hungarian nobles but also to the law students who always played a leading part in organizing balls. Among the balls of the better classes theirs were the most Hungarian in character.

In the years from 1844 to 1847 the better classes organized balls at which it was obligatory for both sexes to appear in Hungarian dress, and the dance programme was made up exclusively of Hungarian dances. Imre Vahot in the Regélõ of 1846 gives an account of the spread of the Hungarian dance. He reports: 'The work I have accomplished together with my colleagues has not been in vain; for the Hungarian language, and Hungarian dances and costumes have been introduced into our social circles and our amusements. This triumph of the national spirit was evident at numerous brilliant balls, but at none in so pronounced a way as at the ball arranged on 7th February by the Pesth Club in the room of the Redoute. Tired of half German-half Hungarian hybridism, we had it printed on the invitation cards that the, language of social intercourse and the costumes were to be exclusively Hungarian. We scored a great success; the conversation, even of those who knew only a smattering of the language, was Hungarian. It was a fine spectacle to see both sexes arrayed in well-cut Hungarian costumes. Only three gentlemen appeared in evening dress, and one of them was a foreigner. Except a Polonaise and a French Dance, all the others were Hungarian ones. In all 5 Csárdás, 3 Társalgós and 3 round dances were danced. There was no German costume to clash with the Hungarian ones'.

That carnival, the Pesth ball of the law students was also entirely Hungarian in character. According to the report of the Regélõ the young people were dressed in Hungarian costumes, mostly Hungarian dances were danced, and the Valse did not figure on the dance programmes.

The carnival of 1847 began with a wave of Hungarian national feeling; not only the masters of ceremonies at the traditional low students' ball, but also those of the other better class balls, endeavoured to make the carnival genuinely Hungarian. Preparations, however, had to be abandoned on account of the death of the very popular Palatine, the Archduke Joseph, which occured on January 13th. Because of the national mourning, amusements were cancelled, and so this Hungarian carnival fell through.

Nevertheless, from the point of view of the Hungarian dance a remarkable event took place that year. On 14th November 1847 the second day following the election of the new Palatine by the Diet of Pozsony, King Ferdinand gave a court ball in the Pozsony Redoute for the Estates of the Realm, on which occasion the Hungarian Csárdás was shown to the Royal court.

During the carnival of 1847 the Csárdás at last figured prominently at the balls in Pesth, as well as in the provinces. Of all the balls in Pesth those of the law students and of the Commercial Club were the most Hungarian in character.

The days of March in 1848 and the historical period that followed, were more favourable still to the Hungarian dance. Soldiers were enlisting for the war of liberty. In Szeged 1500 men joined the National Army en masse. Soldiers have always been excellent dancers, and when opportunity arose they merrily danced the Csárdás. This period produced some of the finest Hungarian dance music.

In the mournful days of the year 1849, and for years to follow, Hungarian songs, Hungarian music, and the Hungarian dance ceased completely. Robbed of their constitution and their liberty, the loyal sons of the nation despaired of the future of the country. Occasionally there were balls but they were mostly arranged by the officers of the Austrian garrisons. Sometimes Hungarian ladies and gentlemen also put in an appearance, and it was this that made Julius Sárossy write his Carnival Poem (Farsangi dal 1850) in which he bitterly criticized the Hungarian ladies for so quickly forgetting the victims of the War of Liberty, the 13 martyrs of Arad, and the loss of Hungarian independence.

A new revival of the national spirit set in in 1860, Austria had suffered a crushing defeat in the Italo-Austrian war of 1859, and Francis Joseph I decided to restore the Hungarian constitution. We witness an outbreak of national feeling at this time which surpassed even that of 1790. The ladies of the nobility appeared again at the balls in Hungarian costume with head-dresses of pearls; the gentlemen danced the Csárdás in Hungarian costume and spurred cavalry boots. There were very many balls at which no other dance was danced but the Csárdás. In general the Hungarian dances - the Csárdás and the Hungarian Round Dance - played a leading part at every ball. The dancing masters of that time taught almost exclusively Hungarian dances. The most famous Csárdás dancer of the sixties was Count Bé1a Keglevich. His dancing - especially with Baroness Sarolta Orczy for a partner - was admired by everybody. In the card rooms the old gentlemen interrupted their games to watch Béla Keglevich dancing the Csárdás. The balls of the nobility of the Counties of Heves, Borsod and Gömör were particularly famous. German dances had been banned, and the officers of the Austrian garrisons who were present waited in vain - especially when Béla Keglevich was present - for the Polka, the Valse or the Quadrille. And he was never absent from the balls of the nobility, and when he cried 'Három a tánc!' dancing was sure to last till morning.

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Source: Edith Weber Elekes, 'The History of the Hungarian Dance', Budapest, 1936.