Choreographer Agris Daņiļevičs. About a Latvian who sings and dances
"We need to be strong and confident in our country, our language and our culture. Only in this way can we help others. Yes, we have to help Ukrainians today, but we must not forget where we come from, who we are, where our strength lies," says choreographer Agris Daņiļevičs.
On Friday and Saturday, August 5 and 6, the Mežaparks' Grand Stage will host an ambitious event where two traditions - song and dance - will come together in an unprecedented way. In the concert performance "Song dances. Dance sounds" (Dziesma dejo. Deja skan) will bring together more than 6000 participants from Latvia and abroad. Participants will perform both well-known repertoire and creations specially created for this event.
63 choirs and 105 dance groups
The concert performance entitled "Song dances. Dance sounds" is also a description of the form, as the dancers will dance and sing and the choristers will also dance and sing. The repertoire consists of well-known numbers from the world of choirs and dance, as well as new creations, so the composer and musical director Uģis Prauliņš has created a unified sound design for the entire concert performance. It will be performed on the Mežaparks' Grand Stage by a cast of 14 musicians, 63 choirs and 105 dance groups from all over Latvia, as well as 10 foreign choirs and dance groups. The choir will also move in the same area as the dancers. This time, the audience will be seated in the restored Mežaparks Grand Stage in the seats reserved for the choir, while the participants will dance in the area where the audience benches are usually located. To convey the emotional message to the audience, the entire performance will be live.
"I came up with this idea a long, long time ago while dancing at the closing concert of the Song Festival in Mežaparks," says the director of the concert production "Song dances. Dance sounds". The author and producer of the idea is Edžus Arums. He was already thinking at the time, why can't we have a full dance concert with choir music? "As we developed the idea, we realized that dancers can also sing and choristers can certainly dance in the same square as dancers. And here we are - welcome to our team's dream, where the song will dance and the dance will sound!"
The concert performance will feature works by choreographers Uldis Žagata, Aija Baumane, Uldis Šteins and composers Raimonds Pauls, Mārtiņš Brauns, Emils Melngailis, Imants Kalniņš and Jāzeps Vītols.
The creative team: Edžus Arums - idea author, producer, Uģis Prauliņš - composer, musical director, Mārtiņš Klišāns - artistic director, chief conductor, Agris Daņiļevičs - artistic director, choreographer, chief conductor, Ilze Jakubovska - director, Aigars Ozoliņš - stage designer, Oskars Pauliņš - lighting director, Ints Teterovskis - chief conductor with initiative, Taiga Ludborža - chief conductor, Ilze Mažāne - chief conductor, Indra Ozoliņa - chief conductor, Ilmārs Dreļs - chief conductor, Diāna Gavare - chief conductor, Baiba Ķestere - chief conductor, Kaspars Brauns - chief conductor, assistant to the artistic director.
Neatkarīgā invited to a conversation Agris Daņiļevičs, the artistic director, choreographer and chief conductor of the concert performance "Song dances. Dance sounds".
What makes the upcoming concert performance special for you?
For me, this event is important because we are able to realize our idea, which is the synergy of song and dance accompanied by live music. It won't just be individual numbers - the song and dance will be together throughout the whole show, and it will be about two hours without a break.
What is the dramaturgical guideline for the concert performance?
It is a swing that swings the Latvians between past and present, earth and sky, meadows and forest tops, this world and the one beyond, winter and summer, childhood and old age, between Latvia and the foreign - between dance and song. A swing that always brings you back to the starting point, no matter how high you swing. No matter how far away from Latvia life has taken you. It’s about a Latvian who sings and dances - in celebration, in sadness, while working, in love and walking in nature. About the poles that have their points of contact. We highlight them in the interludes by Uģis Prauliņš, in the introduction and in the finale, where I had the opportunity to express myself creatively. There are also five new works, specially created for the Mežaparks Grand Stage, because nowhere else is there a two-and-a-half-stadium-sized square for dancing. Of course, there will also be the classical repertoire, which you can't do without in song or dance - "Gaismas pils", “Saule, Pērkons, Daugava”, “Jāņu vakars”, “Audēju deja” and so on. The only thing that matters to us is that it doesn't rain and strong wind doesn't start blowing, because we use large pieces of fabric for the interludes. In case of rain and strong winds, dancing would be very difficult, but it should not be so, because we have put so much work and so much positive energy into this concert performance that it should be crowned with God's grace and the support of all our departed friends who are living in the world beyond. I am talking about Mārtiņš Brauns, about Uģis Brikmanis, whom we miss very much at this time, but whose presence and help we feel. We turn over in our memory the truths of his life and we observe his "commandments", which are already set in stone.
What is the biggest challenge in working on this concert performance?
Scale. Because, as I said, it's two and a half stadiums, and nothing has ever been done on this scale. Here I can fly creatively. The process of creation is magical and a bit supernatural. Of course, the idea of filling this pitch is a real challenge, but it is also a double responsibility and a great thrill. And I draw inspiration from this very environment - the Mežaparks Grand Stage. I would like to take my hat off to my dancers and their teachers, because learning to feel the square on this scale is an extraordinary art. The breath of the scale that the Dzirnas dancers are now in teaches you to see the other side of the Mežaparks, almost as if you were a chief who had to see the whole square.
Of course, there are some difficulties, and they are mainly related to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Today it is more important to help Ukrainians than to support concerts, and we are very, very, very aware of that. And we will also show our support for Ukraine by sending our positive energy to them at the beginning of the concert. It is, of course, terrible what is happening in Ukraine, but at the same time, we must try not to lose what we have. What we are rich in, what makes us different from the other peoples of the world, all over the globe.
What makes us, Latvians, strong.
Yes. Because the Ukrainians don't need any Latvian wimps. We need to be strong and confident in our country, in our language and in our culture. Only in this way can we help others. Yes, we must help Ukrainians, but we must not forget where we come from, who we are. And we will be very happy if Ukrainians living in Latvia also find the opportunity to come to this event - we will be happy to show them this celebration of ours and demonstrate our attitude toward what is happening in their country.
Where will you be during the concert? Where will you be watching it from?
I don't know, I'll be somewhere there. I haven't thought about it yet. I just know that the choreographer is completely powerless during the performance. He doesn't need a microphone, he doesn't need any communication - he just has to watch from the outside how everything is going. The only active pulse-keepers will be Mārtiņš Klišāns, Romāns Vanags and Ints Teterovskis, who will be conducting, and all the musical responsibility will fall on the shoulders of these men and also on Uģis Prauliņš. Of course, the tuners will also be responsible, because it is extremely difficult to produce good sound within the distances of the Mežaparks Grand Stage, and that is where Edmunds Zazerskis and his team will come to our rescue. The dancers, on the other hand, have to learn how to sing "Gaismas pils" and "Saule, Pērkons, Daugava", if anyone doesn't know yet. The task has been given, and I hope it will be done.
Can you reveal what unusual things the audience can expect in this concert performance?
I can reveal one secret. When the men of the men's choir dance with the men of the dancers and there is that beautiful song “Mūžu mūžos būs dziesma,/Un mūžu mūžos alus smeķēs,/Bet pāri no dziesmu svētkiem/Nāks meitene baltās zeķēs…” (Forever there will be a song,/And forever we will enjoy some beer,/But over from the song festival/Will come a girl in white stockings...), the girls in white stocking really will come… If, when singing this song, the men have always only dreamt of it, this time the dream will become quite tangible - the men of the choirs will have their laps full of young dancers. I proposed this crazy idea, and everyone loved it! The guys were happy. I didn't tell them at first, I only talked to the girls, and in rehearsal they didn't understand what was happening... It was so beautiful!
What else beautiful is happening in your summer?
Inevitably, it's Burtnieki, where we'll be dancing for the seventh year on August 12. We (the dancers of Dzirnas dance school) have covered almost all the big programs and productions I've done in the past, and we've also produced this new one. In the first year, together with the children and young people of Burtnieki district, we prepared a dance and music performance "They danced one summer" (Viņi dejoja vienu vasaru), the next year - "Mowgli" (Mauglis) by Mārtiņš Brauns, then together with Iļģi we sang and danced "Playing, dancing" (Spēlēju, dancoju), together with the Latvian Blues Band we had a grand performance "Evening Blues" (Vakara blūzs), and together with the horses of Valmiermuiža and Burtnieki stables on the lakeside we had a performance about Midsummer Night "From Light to Light" (No gaismas līdz gaismai). Last year, together with the group Autobuss debesīs, we repeated the dance performance "They danced one summer" (Viņi dejoja vienu vasaru), which we had staged with phonograms the first year. And this year we will dance and try to sing in English, because this summer's theme is rock and roll, which is and will always be alive. On August 12, everyone is invited to Burtnieki to watch us rock and roll, as the title of the program is Latvianized - "Rok n Rullē". In fact, it was the last three years in Burtnieki - the collaboration with the Latvian Blues Band and Autobuss debesīs, where singing and dancing were combined - that created the impetus for the concert performance "Song dances. Dance sounds". This year we will dance and sing again. After that, I will have two weeks off, and then the next season will be here. We will have built the bridge to next summer's Song and Dance Festival and we will start preparing for it. I will also have the opportunity to participate as a dancer.
What's the best way to relax during the summer for you?
I am lucky that my work is my joy and happiness. I'm not saying it's my hobby, but it's the joy of work. And if the result of my work brings someone real joy and enthusiasm, gives them a positive charge, it gives me great satisfaction. That’s not to say that I myself am not influenced by it. If something really cool happens on stage, I'm very quickly overwhelmed by it, I'm very sympathetic - I cry easily.
But when it comes to relaxing in the summer, it's Putni, my home. I have chickens, geese and carp to feed, I have three cats and a dog, we have planted lots of trees and shrubs, my wife has flowers, a greenhouse and a garden. It all takes time. Going into the lake, catching some fish to fry for lunch, going into the greenhouse, getting my lettuce, my scallions, my cucumbers and tomatoes... That is what fills my free time completely. And, to be honest, there are a lot of creative ideas that I've come up with while mowing the grass or whatever I'm doing at Putni. Yes, a lot of the ideas that I've later put on stage have come from home. Because things you do at home are automatic - you go to give food to your animals hundreds of times and you get so used to it that it's possible to think of something else at that moment. And if you wish to invent new things, home is the place to do it.