The relevance of folklore in the city schools: a study about folk dance

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing the importance attributed to folk dance in Maringá’s city schools as a mean of education, formation and cultural integration. We set out to verify the types of dance taught, the methodology applied by the teachers, its acceptance by the students, and also the main types of stimuli used for the development of folk dance in these schools. The population was composed by teachers of six primary schools (1st to the 4th grade), who teach folk dance to their students. The sample was constituted of one teacher for each school. The instrument of research was made of a program of structured interviews, duly validated by specialists in its form, methodology and content. The data was collected in the schools themselves, during the lesson times of the respective teachers, and then analyzed by descriptive statistics, in a level of frequency and percentage. The results showed that all the schools had folk dance in their curriculum and that it had a great acceptance by their students. The lessons are given based on a historical-critical methodology, motivating the students to participate in the dance groups, who present their skills in festivals. At the end, it was possible to conclude that dance contributes to the children development in aspects such as socialization, retrieval of culture, improvements in the cognitive, affective and motor aspects, and that inclusion and incentive to folk dance in the city schools is an excellent example that should be followed by other schools, to continuously motivate education and culture, considered to be the starting point for the conscious formation of an individual.