Till the end of the 15^th century Spisz (Szepes) was a part of Hungary, a country where different cultural influences mixed, as through the Poprad valley led an important merchant road. This had been reflected in local dance and music. Many dances (both in the Polish and the Slovakian side of Spisz) are closely linked with Hungarian ones, which reflects in their names as well as in their fast tempo. One of such dances is a local adaptation of the popular genre in Hungary and Slovakia, the czardas is the csárdás (czardas) of Spisz (ciardaś śpiski). It is composed of four segments, and is preceded by a joint singing of all the persons gathered. After singing one or two verses of a folk song, the participants line up in pairs, in a closed setting, in a circle or in rows, and dance in sliding steps. This part's tempo is slow, in a 4/4 metre, and the beauty of it lies in such leading of the female dancer as to make her skirt swing alternately to the left and to the right. This round hip movement of the female dancer is one of the elements distinguishing Spisz dances from those of the Beskids and Podhale regions. After dancing one or two rounds around the hall, the second segment of the dance begins, one with a fast tempo (2/4 metre). The dancing pairs change the grip and steps. Partners extend crossed arms and join hands, they turn around and swing their legs. In the third segment the male dancer holds his place and stamps his feet while his partner swirls under his raised arm, doing the obyrtany steps. As the tempo grows faster and faster, another change takes place: the dancers hook elbows with each other and go round in a running step, changing the direction form time to time. Csárdáses, otherwise called madziary, had local versions on Orava, in the Pieniny mountains and in Beskid Śląski (Silesian Beskids).

Bogucki, Kazimierz. Pięć tańców góralskich z Orawy, Spisza i Pienin. Warszawa: Towarzystwo Łączności z Polonią Zagraniczną "Polonia", 1964

Dąbrowska, Grażyna W. W kręgu polskich tańców ludowych. Warszawa: Ludowa Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza, 1979.

Pluciński, Jan. Wesele spiskie. Kraków: PWM, 1987.