On 4^th February, 1946, a folk group called the Esbart Folklòric d'Horta was set up as an initiative of Josep M. Castells to promote Catalan folk traditions. It is a section of the Lluïsos d'Horta, an association founded in 1866 as the Centre Moral Instructiu and which also has cinema, hiking, photography, handicrafts, theatre, table tennis and children's recreation sections. The dancers are organised into four groups: preparatory, children, dance corps and parents.

The performances offered by the Esbart Folklòric include two regular appearances in the Horta neighbourhood: one in March and the other at the annual festa major, in September. Aside from these, the children's and parents' groups also perform every year at the Roda d'Esbarts Catalònia, which travels round Catalonia.

In 1992 the Esbart took part in the opening ceremonies of the Barcelona Olympics and Paralympics, and in 2004 they performed Dancing the Imaginary at the Universal Forum of Cultures.

In collaboration with the Platja d'Aro Town Council and the local tourist board, for four years the group also organised an international folk festival that brought together dance groups from different places in Catalonia and Europe. They have taken their dances across Europe too, to festivals in cities such as Bergen (Norway), Hanover (Germany) and Saint Gemmes-sur-Loire (France), as well as Càceres, Eibar and Vigo in Spain. Thanks to a cultural exchange programme, in 2006 the Horta dancers spent some time in La Laguna, Tenerife, while in the previous year they played hosts to Ochagavía, a dance group from Navarre.