A girls’ song sounds from the darkness. They are getting ready to dance. The boys from the neighbouring villages want to stand out against each other to show who will be in charge of this dance. The victory is theirs, the girls join them in a seven-step dance, the ZIBENŠRIT folk dance. The boys and girls from the neighbouring village are watching them, waiting for their opportunity to chase them away from the dance floor and to turn round merrily to SVATOVSKA POLKA or a wedding polka. A gentle ŠTAJERIŠ or Steierisch and lively MRZULIN follow. The performance continues with the SOTIŠ dance, which is started by some, and then the others join them as well.
Stage set: Vesna Klavžar
Musical adaptation: Jasmina Čulk Škoda, Jože Vincelj, Matjaž Lapornik and Mitja Vodušek
Girls begin a set of dances by dancing VEVRCA or a squirrel dance. Boys join in with the song Sredi vasi zavriskamo or In the middle of the village we shout and cheer and then they dance the VEVRCA together. The ŠPACIRVALCER dance or a strolling waltz follows; it is a special form of waltz, where walking (strolling) and a triple-time waltz are interwoven. This dance originated only in Koroška (Carinthia). MALENDRCA follows. It is sometimes called a sinful, devilish dance and is characterized by a kneeling step that ends with tapping, and turns of female dancers and finally a 360-degree turn in a couple. The set of dances continues with MAZURKA, which is called potrkana or a tapping dance in Sele. The set ends with PASTIRICA or a herdswoman, where a male dancer and a female dancer touch the floor with the heels of their weightless legs.
Stage set: Andreja Vodušek, Vesna Klavžar
Musical adaptation: Jasmina Čulk Škoda, Jože Vincelj, Matjaž Lapornik, Mitja Vodušek
The dances shown in a set originated in the surroundings of Ljubno ob Savinji. The DRGLCA and TRABLAN dances are specific to this part of Slovenia only. At the beginning of the set, male and female dancers dance SPREJEMALKA. It is followed by a dance game called the POJŠTERTANC or a pillow dance to the famous tune of Štirje fantje špilajo or Four boys are playing. While dancing in a circle, a male dancer chooses a female dancer he likes best, even kisses her, and finally he dances and makes a 360-degree turn with her. The set continues with the DRGLCA dance, which was named after a sliding movement of dancers around the dance floor. Then they perform the CVAJŠRIT dance or a two-step dance, which is characterized by a special posture of a couple and changing of the direction while dancing, and the TRABLAN dance. The set ends with vigorous turning round of the dance couples.
Stage set: Andreja Vodušek
Musical adaptation: Jasmina Čulk Škoda, Jože Vincelj, Matjaž Lapornik, Mitja Vodušek
A lonely shepherd plays the flute in the shade of white birches. Fairies are attracted by a gentle sound as they love dancing. But woe to him who observes them! The shepherd is frightened and runs away. The lonely fairies preform a circle dance named NEMO KOLO. Music is heard from the village, girls and boys join in the ČIČK dance. All together they dance to the cheerful music of CARSKO KASO.
We will find out who the fairies love if we closely follow a rolling red apple in the circle dance of TRIBUČKO KOLO.
The SOTIŠ dance is followed by a circle dance SELJANČICA that takes the dancers to foreign places.
Again, the shepherd, who was spotted by the fairies, secretly sneaks in. Will they bewitch him?
Stage set: Vesna Klavžar
Musical adaptation: Jasmina Čulk Škoda, Jože Vincelj, Matjaž Lapornik, Mitja Vodušek
Dances from Kozjansko contain some elements that are not known anywhere else in Slovenia. The set presents a fair after working together. The dancers perform the ČINDARA dance, which sometimes ended the party. A line of dancers wandered also outside the house, across the yard, the meadow and ended by dancing till early in the morning. In the TROJKA dance or a dance for a group of three, a male dancer dances with two female dancers, at the end of the dance he turns with them alternately holding them under the arms. The POUŠTERTANC dance or a pillow dance excels in a beautiful melody and only in Kozjansko is known a version where a couple in a circle selects the next couple to dance. The TRIKOT dance is a game in which four dancers fight for three chairs and is a characteristic feature of the Kozjansko area. The KOUTRE ŠIVAT dance or a sewing blanket dance presents dancing of couples under the raised hands of the co-dancers.
Stage set: Mirko Ramovš
Musical adaptation: Julijan Strajnar
The wedding dances or Styrian dances are lively and brisk, similar to other Slovenian dances. The set of dances shows the arrival of the wedding guests from the wedding ceremony and a wedding party. A spear carrier or a flag-bearer was sometimes a compulsory companion to the wedding guests and a wedding procession. The bride and groom had to walk away from the wedding ceremony under the arch made by the spear carrier. At the wedding party the bride and groom perform a solo seven-step dance, the ZIBENŠRIT dance, and the other wedding guests join them. This dance is followed by the MAŠERJANKA dance, which is one of the younger dances and has survived only in Styria (Štajerska) and Prekmurje. The KRAJC POLKA dance follows, and the set ends the lively SOTIŠ dance.
Stage set: Edo Gaberšek, Bruno Gaberšek
Musical adaptation: Drago Kunej
Goričko is situated the north-eastern corner of Slovenia, squeezed between the Austrian and Hungarian borders. Dances in Goričko are more temperamental, movements are jerkily, steps are emphasized and related to body shaking. The set of dances presents some younger dances GORIČKI VALČEK, REJZL POLKA and CEPLPOLKA, which are typical representatives of the Goričko region. Particularly interesting is the dance named REJZL POLK that came to these places from Banat (Serbia). In the end, the dancers present the ČARDAŠ or Csardas dance that was brought to Goričko from Hungary, but in a simpler form.
Stage set: Katarina Pavlič
Musical adaptation: Jasmina Čulk Škoda, Jože Vincelj, Matjaž Lapornik, Mitja Vodušek
