This summer 19 Salinieki dancers travelled to Bradford to take part in the III European Latvian Cultural Festival (ELKS). Choirs, folklore ensembles and 8 dance groups from across Europe gathered in Bradford to share Latvian culture over several days.
The dancing began on Friday evening with an outdoor concert at the Fountains Square, where Dārta, Beāte, Kate and Aldis performed “Viņš ir mans”.
The highlight of ELKS was the Saturday gala concert at St George’s Hall, where we danced several pieces: “Rūnu raksti”, “Reilenders”, “Mugurdancis”, “Jura polka”, “Sirmgalvi vecīti”, “Buobu dancis”, “Alku deja” and “Ģērbies saule sudrabota”. Our dancers also supported the youngest dancers in “Čību čābu”. We performed these dances together with “Dindaru Dandaru” from Edinburgh and “Zibenītis” from Stockholm.
After the concert the roles swapped, and in the evening the performers could enjoy a show by Tautumeitas and Austrumkalns. Once the official programme was over, Salinieki headed back to the centre of Bradford, where in the mild July night they played music through portable speakers at the Fountains Square and kept dancing…
For several of our dancers these were particularly special concerts. For Kate and Artūrs it was their first performance with Salinieki, and for Jolanta and Maija it was their very first folk-dance concert ever. It was especially touching that former Salinieki dancers also came to support us.
In other years the dance season would end with the July concert, but this year we returned to the rehearsal hall in London and continued preparing for “Dziesma Dejo Deja Skan”.