Clap your hands, tap your feet and smile with Klnka

Five summer festivals across the midlands and around the capital will take on a central European flavour next week when 40 Slovak children perform their traditional dances and songs.

The children of the Klnka sat quietly on benches overlooking the sea at Bray yesterday (a novelty for a people living in a small landlocked country), while Peter Sanka and his wife Ingrid, director and artistic director of the troupe, enthused about their country's music and dancing.

"We get between 15 and 20 offers to visit different countries each year," Mr Sanka said. Klnka has already visited 12 countries including Canada, South Africa, Tunisia and Turkey. There are plans to go to Portugal after its short Irish tour and to the US and Israel next year.

Slovak folk music and dance is - so the Slovaks say - one of the most popular in the world . . . "more popular outside Slovakia than inside", concedes Peter Sanka. That said, there are 33 folk groups based in Bratislava, the country's capital.

The Irish Times was given a sneak preview of some songs and steps they will bring to Cavan, Laois, Dublin and Wicklow over the following days. In the best spirit of folk, it makes you clap your hands, tap your feet and smile. The children, aged six to 17, are polite and enthusiastic. "We like travelling very much. It's nice to talk with new people," says Andrea (14).

While their air fares are paid by the children's families, their local accommodation and food is funded by the festivals they visit. Klnka sometimes funds trips through its own sponsorship and reaches international audiences through a publicity machine centred around Slovak embassies abroad. This trip has cost about £10,000. For the embassy in Dublin, established in 1997, this is its biggest cultural tourism event to date.

Similarities with traditional Irish music and dance have not gone unnoticed. Ingrid Sanka says that one Slovak dance, the Valassky, shares steps with some Irish dances she has seen. The Bray International Dance and Music Festival will feature Slovak and Irish dance workshops, which will allow each to learn from the other.

And, yes, since you've asked, they have heard of Riverdance. In fact, they have three versions of Riverdance the Show on tape. Indeed, the current world fad for Irish dancing has hit Bratislava. "We have a group which teaches Irish dancing in Bratislava and we even have an Irish pub there, too," says Ingrid Ponsarova, third secretary of the Slovak embassy.

Klnka will perform at the Percy French Festival, Co Cavan, today and tomorrow; at 4 p.m. on Saturday at the Wicklow Regatta, Wicklow town; at 8 p.m. on Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday at the Durrow Carnival Weekend, Co Laois; on Monday at the Dun Laoghaire Horse Show and at the Bray International Dance and Music Festival on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, August 10th, 12th and 13th.

For details, contact Adrienne Palmer on 01286 4000.