ATTITUDES AND OPINIONS TOWARDS BULGARIAN FOLK DANCES (HORό DANCES) AMONG STUDENTS AT THE SOUTH-WEST UNIVERSITY “NEOFIT RILSKI”

Abstract

Bulgarian national dances can be systematically organized taking into account different parameters and criteria, when considering the opinions of specialists in the field of Bulgarian folklore. The national folk dances called Horό are the most popular and most widely spread characteristic way of dancing in our national folklore dances. PURPOSE: The purpose of the current article is to analyze the opinions and the attitudes towards the Bulgarian national dances and Horό among students. METHODS: In the text we have used data gathered via a questionnaire-based study. It covers 157 students. The questionnaire is created by the author, constructed especially for the purposes of the current study, and consists of 12 context questions and a sociodemographic block. In order to interpret the results, we have used statistical analysis for non-representative studies, among which descriptive statistics and the method of grouping. RESULTS: The main advantage of Bulgarian Horό dances and folk dances during leisure time is that they give the opportunity to students to have fun and to relax, to recover from stress, and in the university – to get new knowledge and skills while learning to dance new Hora which would also help their physical training, fitness and development. CONCLUSIONS: As per the analysis carried out we can observe that the most popular Horό dances among the students at the SWU “Neofit Rilski”, are Pravo (“lined up/ straight-line”), Dunavsko (“Danube), Elenino (“Elena’s”), all of which are largely popular in our country.

Keywords

• folklore
• traditions
• bulgarian folk dances
• horό dances
• analysis
• physical training
• physical exercise