The University Folklore Ensemble "MLADOSŤ" (Youth) celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2001, although its roots of formation and activities date back to 1960s. The coner-stone of the ensemble was laid in the school-year 1959/60 when a Pedagogical Institute was opened in Banská Bystrica. It was for the first time that musical training for future teachers at basic schools was made possible in Banská Bystrica, thanks to an establishment of the Department of musical education. In this schoolyear, Dezider Strmeň founded and successfully conducted a singing choir named "PEDAGÓG" (Educationist) which became a founding stone of extra-curricular artistic activities at the University. In 1960/61 a dancing ensemble was formed under a leadership of PhDr. Božena Kovaľová - former member of well-known folklore groups "Lúčnica" and "Technik".

An orchestra was also created at this time and it was led by Eduard Gábor. After affiliation of other artistic components to the singing choir this ensemble of musicians, singers and dancers became known as "BUDÚCNOSŤ" (Future). Thanks to conscientious work of the art director and of all members this entity rose step by step to a higher artistic grade. Dancers achieved many succesful results in a very short period of time. The ensemble reached the first place in a competition of artistic creativity of Czech and Slovak university ensembles in Prague and the first place in a national competition of artistic creativity of university students in Nitra. The group also took part in traditional folklore festivals in Slovakia.

The time when dancers worked under direction of PhDr. Božena Kovaľová can be named as the first functional period of the group. It was her who "set fire" for folk art in students` souls, which was and still is inevitable for such a work and which did not burn out up to this day.

Thanks to an initiative of the Department of musical education a university folklore ensemble MLADOSŤ was formed on 12.10.1971. It kept on the tradition of ensembles Pedagóg and Budúcnosť. In this way a new member of the folklore groups´ family in Banská Bystrica was born.

The fact that Mladosť is a university ensemble creates a unique atmosphere in the group. The members usually change after 4 or 5 years when they finish their university studies and end up with their activities in Mladosť. In this way new generations of folklore fans grow quickly and periodically. However, many former members continue with active participation in cultural happenings after they leave Mladosť and some of them create new children folklore ensembles in their home region. In spite of annual changes in the membership, the artistic quality steadily increases. Enthusiasm and dedication of all members are crucial movers of the group. The shift of experience to younger members is automatic and spontaneous.

The ensemble gradually developed its structure into four components :

Dancers A new art director -Dr. Eleonóra Baranová - followed after the group founder PhDr. Božena Kovaľová. She enriched the repertoire with new choreographies which were appreciated on various festivals and competitions. From 1985 the group was led by J. Katreniak in co-operation with two choreographers Mária Kočišová - Palasthyová and Marián Čupka. After their arrival the group came to a new life and rose to a higher artistic level. In the schoolyear 1989/90 J. Katreniak was substituted by Roman Ruttkay and from 1990/1991 on, Eleonóra Trunečková became the head of the group. In the next school-year Marián Čupka came back to work in the group and later became its art director. Under his leadership MLADOSŤ reached its biggest success - the title "Laureate of Academic Nitra" in 1992.

After a departure of M. Čupka Martin Kolenička acted as a manager and Katarína Onofrejová and Ester Žáková took care of artistic aspects. After this transitional period the management was finally stabilised. Dr. Ján Macejka became a manager in 1996 and in 1997 came Ing. Miroslav Sitár - a new art director - who brought many innovations with him and contributed to a further elevation of the group´s artistic level. In this period the ensemble received a second biggest acknowledgement of its work - the golden medal of the Matej Bel University on an occasion of the group´s 30th anniversary. Marián Čupka was asked to come back when M. Sitár left the ensemble in 2002. Since then he is again a choreographer and an art director with the aim to continue in positive trends.

Singers - women Its activity began under direction of Jozef Pantlík in 1977/78. The singers acted at first as a small vocal group accompanying the dancers´ performance, later they featured also soloist appearances of songs from the regions "Horehronie" and "Detva". At the time when the women singing group was led by PaedDr. Dagmar Michalíková the repertoire expanded to other regions of Slovakia. The intention was (among others) to create a balance in scenic composition of the programme, i.e. to raise the singing group from an accompaniment to a valuable equivalent of dancers´ and musicians´ entries. The leadership of this component shifted in time from Kamila Ulmanová, Ingrid Zibrínová, Denisa Zambojová to Ľubica Horňáčková. In 1999 the group worked under auspices of Peter Schneider - a member of the State opera in Banská Bystrica.

Folklore music band It began its work under leadership of E. Gábor and was composed of students at the music department. Doc. Vladimír Gajdoš was the director of the folklore music band for thirteen years (from 1965 to 1978). Under his leadership the music had many performances at home and abroad. The next art director was Doc. Alexander Melicher, then Vladimír Juráš and since 1984/85 Igor Gašpar. From 1991 to 1994 the music band was led by Adriana Valášková. After Martin Sliva (principal violinist and leader from 1994 to 1997) Rastislav Miklošík took the music leadership as well as music arrangements over in 1997.

Singers - men This part of the ensemble is a lot younger than the women`s singing choir. It was founded thanks to initiative of Teodor Duchovič. During the first year it was led by J. Katreniak and since 1989/90 by Rastislav Dudáš. The activities of men`s singing group became valuable part of ensembles´ programmes.