Marija Šuštar

Marija Šuštar (12 January 1905 – 27 January 1989) was a Slovenian ethnochoreologist and folklorist. She is known for her pioneering research on traditional Slovenian folk dances and her long association with the Institute of Ethnomusicology of the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Her mother was the sacristan and organist Ana Slapnik, and her father was the sacristan and organist Janez Šuštar. During her childhood she moved with her family several times, until they settled in her mother's birthplace house in Okrog near Špitalič. She also carried out research in Resia, where among local people she was known as Maričica (little Marija). In some of her books she collaborated with her brother-in-law France Marolt and the ballet dancer Henrik Neubauer.

As a lecturer she took part in various republic and federal seminars intended for teaching folk dances, and she was a member of the federal jury that selected ensembles across Yugoslavia to perform at the conference of the International Folk Music Council (IFMC) in Opatija in 1951. She never married and had no children. She died on 27 January 1989 in Ljubljana.

Awards

Order of Merit for the People with Gold Star - Yugoslavia