Broadway Theater enters Kuldiga – residence of young performing artists takes place / Article

The Broadway Theater has arrived in Kuldiga – the camp “Residence of Young Performers” is taking place here. It was cherished by former Kuldīga woman, choreographer Gunta Liepiņa-Millere and her husband, American Broadway musical singer Stefan Miller. It is an opportunity for future professionals to additionally train in song, dance and other creative expressions. The organizers of the residence hope to create it in Latvia every summer.

The residence of young performing artists in Kuldiga is a heart project, says choreographer and dance teacher Gunta Liepiņa-Millere. She comes from Kuldiga, where the first acquaintance with dance was already three years old. Learning to dance took him to various countries, including the United States. After obtaining a Fulbright scholarship and studying in America, Gunta Liepiņa-Millere taught the skills acquired there in Latvia for a couple of years. Although she currently lives and works in California, in the summer she and her husband Stefan Miller, who is also a Broadway musical actor and teacher, return to Latvia and pass on their skills and worldview to Latvia’s future professionals. This is how the idea for the first residence was created.

“America is a place where everything happens, where there is a lot of freedom, but you have to work a lot yourself, to put your head in the position that anyone can do anything, but you have to work.

In Latvia, perhaps, there is more of a Soviet stratification, that there are selections that a person with fine bones can only dance, it really doesn’t exist in the world anymore, I can give such courage, ”says Gunta Liepiņa-Millere.

The participants of the residency are future professionals in dance, as well as students of the Music Department of the Riga Dome Choir School. “This week we are focusing more on a new musical repertoire, working on American Broadway, approaching its approach, performance in singing, dancing and acting. I also prepare them in addition, for example, if they want to study at an American or English university, I prepare them for a career in music, ”says Stefan Miller about the residency program.

The participant of the camp Vaida Vovere appreciates the Broadway actor’s vision: “He always makes us look positive, uncharacteristic of Latvians, we are self-critical, we can’t look at what has already been done.”

The work takes place separately, where the dancers learn jazz and contemporary dance, and the singers learn the musical repertoire, and joint numbers are created, which will be visible at the end of the camp.

Director Mārtiņš Kagainis evaluates: “I would like to say that we have talented young people, the time has come for the directors to get stuck, to have a place to express themselves, to have a place to implement their skills for young people.”

Mārtiņš Kagainis did not hide that during the camp he was also looking for participants for the upcoming musical “Child of the Star” by Jānis Lūsēns and Kārlis Vērdiņš. The residence of young performing artists is organized by the Mea Via Foundation.

–