Dancing is the foundation of folklore activity. An accurate depiction of Slovenian folk dances requires a great deal of expert knowledge. Even though Slovenia is a country with a large number of folklore groups, it does not offer formal education in the field of folklore activity. Seminars concerning cultural heritage are organised only by the Republic of Slovenia Public Fund for Cultural Activities (JSKD). However, the lack of formal education is not the only reason children folklore groups are of lower quality and consist of smaller numbers of children. In addition to theoretical and practical knowledge required to lead a children folklore group, many other factors influence whether a certain group is a quality group and whether it consists of a large enough number of members. Our research includes several leaders of children folklore groups from various parts of Slovenia and explores which factors influence the quality of children folklore groups and the number of their members. The list of today’s high-quality Slovenian children folklore groups indicates that a greater number of high-quality groups originate from cultural societies, while groups formed in schools as an optional compulsory activity are mostly falling behind. This phenomenon has not been researched yet. As we want to have a higher quantity of high-quality children folklore groups in the future, regardless of their origin, our research studied the differences between groups based in schools and groups from cultural societies. We determined that the length and quantity of rehearsals influence the quality of a group, along with a schedule that suits the children. When considering the quality and number of members in a children folklore group, we came to a conclusion that not many factors are shared by one or the other. While the number of members is influenced by the location of a specific folklore activity, the quality is influenced by the number of children, additional intensive rehearsals and the number of musicians, but the most important factor is an experienced, motivated and enthusiastic leader. For children mirror the leader and will behave accordingly. As a result, we developed guidelines that will help leaders of children folklore groups better their groups. The developed guidelines can also help individuals who do not have a group yet, but are going to create one in the future. By conducting this research and developing the criteria, we want to make a contribution to the development of children’s folklore activity; it is currently changing and finding its way, and, consequently, trying to prove to people that it is not only an amateur activity, but an art form demanding effort, knowledge, pride and respect.
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