History

The history of the folk esemble dates back to 1973. Since 1975, the dance group "Kožiar" has been called TOPĽAN by the river flowing through the ŠARIŠ region.

The message of the esemble is to preserve the treasures of Šariš songs, dance and fine music. The first choreographer ONDREJ MAJER used to meet the members of the ensemble once a week and together they were making dance scenes from different parts of Slovakia. Since 1978 the ensemble has annually taken part in the district shows.

The eighties brought also the generation problems. The Folk ensemble began to work under new artistic direction since December 1983. JOZEF BOGDAN, a native from Hertník was in charge of the choreography. The ensemble started to work in three components: dancing, singing and music. Among the group of folk ensemble there were people of different professions: secondary students, apprentices, workers, and teachers.

After 1986 the ensemble had to overcome the generation problems again which made it impossible for the ensemble to take part in public shows. The crisis period lasted until 1990 when a lot of new members joined the ensemble and started to work under the direction of new head ensemble ŠTEFAN GALIK together with EVA ŠTUDYOVA. Their first performance was in the first year of TOPĽAN FESTIVAL.

Since 1994 the ensemble was lead by artistic director and choreographer ŠTEFA MUCHA who brought new life into the ensemble. He enriched the repertoire with dances from Upper Šaris and Zemplín regions. At the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the ensemble establishment there met two generations out of which a new idea of the future cooperation came into existence.

In 2000 JURAJ HAVRILA became the leader of ensemble and at the same time its own committee consisting of ensemble's members was established. The main task of the committee is to supply performances, distribute financial resources and communicate with the local authorities.

In 2001 the ensemble lost also long-acting choreographer Stefan MUCHA. Also Juraj HAVRILA resigned his post on June 24th 2001 and became an ordinary member. The last summer performance in 2001 cast doubt on management and the existence of the ensemble.

Since 2002, Mgr. Miram Eliasova and Pavol SVAC have become the leaders of music section that works under the direction the headmaster of the Basic Art School Mgr. Peter ZAJAC. The leader of singing section is Mgr.Janka KOREŇOVÁ who used to be a long-acting soloist of the ensemble.

The ensemble has started to work with the host choreographers and the members meet at the assemblies. Together with the ensemble website www.toplan.sk, was also created a flag, poster, and chronicle. Folk costumes are supplemented.