The event is evaluated by the organizers, group leaders and spectators
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In Mežapark, at the closing concert of the holiday. Photo – Ingrīda Punka
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The Song and Dance Week came and went as quickly as it did. On Monday, July 10, a post-holiday press conference took place, during which the organizers of the holiday and representatives of the services evaluated the event and provided insights.
Extremely necessary
Culture Minister Nauris Puntulis admits that he feels satisfied: “In the spring, when I started the last finish line to the Song Festival, I always said in the public space that this festival is an anniversary festival – it must be excellent, bright, and it will be like that. Today I dare to say that they were like that. Thank you to everyone who got involved to make this holiday like this!” The minister said that it is difficult to name one highlight, because every Song Festival event he attended had a tearful moment.
“I am extremely happy, and the first thing I could say is a huge thank you to all the singers and dancers, as well as those who have brought them to this festival,” emphasizes Mārtiņš Klišāns, chairman of the artistic council of the Song and Dance Festival, “time was difficult, and the time allotted to us to prepare this grand event was quite short. How we did it proves how much we need and need the holiday. Once again, I had the opportunity and happiness to experience the Latvia that was there this week – it is definitely an unforgettable feeling. This inertia and the pull of the holiday will throw us again into the next tasks, and we will be ready to start working on the next holiday tomorrow.» M. Klišans admits that artists always have room to grow, because everything is never fulfilled. “One life is probably not enough,” he states.
In synergy with the audience
Jānis Purvinņš, the artistic director of the dance performance, admits that the dancers were in great synergy with the audience during this celebration. “Emotions that were experienced on the field in the widest spectrum – starting with smiles, tears and crying men – the same happened with the spectators. I think that the biggest benefit is the aftertaste after the celebration not only for the dancers, but also for the audience,” Jānis Purvinņš shares his thoughts, “if after the concert the audience tells each other in public transport which region or part of Latvia his grandparents are from, then it must have offended or played on the deepest strings of the soul.» J. Purviņš emphasizes that what was seen at the Song Festival is amazing, because it was possible to fully prepare for the festival only one year and three months after the pandemic.
The services present, who took care of the safety and health of the participants and visitors, were also of great importance during the celebration. The head of the operational management group, Artis Velšs, says that serious work was done before the holiday in order to protect against various possible situations and play them out, so the readiness for the holiday was high. “The data will still be collected, but the overall conclusion is already that the holiday was very – surprisingly – peaceful,” said A. Velšs. “In our opinion, two factors certainly contributed to this – the weather conditions, which we cannot predict, but which were favorable for a large-scale public event, as well as the participants and visitors. Their respect, attitude, responsibility, general behavior at the Song Festival differs from other public events. It’s a lot, and it helps the services if people cooperate with the services and are responsible.” A. Velš admits that the number of incidents in an event of this level was not large, which shows the high readiness and responsibility of the services and also the discipline of visitors and participants.
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Minor injuries and health problems
The deputy director of the emergency medical assistance service, Māra Dīriņa, says that the holiday was spent peacefully – the participants mostly needed help due to relatively simple health disorders or injuries. Psychological support was also provided during the holidays, as the intense rehearsals and the celebration were also a great emotional experience for some. M. Dīriņa also thanks those participants who had prepared their first-aid kits and the medicines they needed.
“The biggest, most voluminous and labor-intensive celebration has been held, from the point of view of public order and road safety. A huge amount of work has been invested in the planning and implementation of security measures,” says Ansis Pumpurs, Deputy Chief of the Main Order Police Department. He expresses his gratitude for the work of both his colleagues and the collective bus drivers, who performed their duties very responsibly without causing any incidents.
Enhanced security
Jānis Grīnbergs, the deputy head of the State Fire and Rescue Service, describes the holidays as peaceful and safe: «There is not a single incident, which I must add – we have worked together really well both preventively and during the holidays. We also managed to organize two exercises related to mass evacuation, which were interrupted by the weather at the Daugava stadium, which resulted in a smaller number of participants. They succeeded in full on the Mežaparka Grand Stage.»
Journalists ask the question about the degree of strictness during the holiday – what was the basis for the strict checks at the entrance, as well as the ban on bringing liquids? “It is a matter of inter-service cooperation, because we also worked together on the rules in this format. I don’t want to go into the discussion of each point – why exactly water or food products, there are many different reasons for this, which were important from the point of view of the services,” answers A. Velš, “I want to emphasize that these rules have not changed in principle, because there have been such restrictions in previous holidays as well , only, perhaps, the demands against them were more liberal – closing their eyes.» The services showed the degree of strictness much more visibly and visually due to the geopolitical situation, conditions and risks, which made the services to evaluate security more strongly during the holidays.
The concept of the “eternal engine” is very good
“Bauskas Dzīve” contacted the leaders of the collectives to find out how the members themselves evaluate the holiday.
“In terms of content, the concept of the big dance performance “Eternal Engine” was very good. This was already a holiday for me, and this year’s performance was the one that really “took”, says Ligita Irbīte, leader of the dance group “Mēmelīte” and the middle generation dance collective (VPDK) “Mēmele”, “there were many things that had to be filled out electronically already three months before the holiday, for example, where and what time the collective will eat – such things were difficult to predict ahead of time. The application was useful when the member’s card was lost, because by presenting your profile at the info center, you could get a new pass in the application.»
Since L. Irbīte is the leader of several collectives, sometimes the rehearsal schedule was so tight that it was impossible to get to the school where the lunch place was indicated on the given day. After scanning the application code, a refusal to receive lunch appeared on the controllers’ devices, because the place of eating was indicated at the school, but due to lack of time the driver wanted to receive it in the stadium area. For a dancer from the team, out of nowhere, it appeared in the application that he was entitled to a vegetarian meal, although the dancer had not marked anything like that.
“At the Daugava stadium there were very good traffic controllers, there was order, and the security was also, in my opinion, very solid and adequate,” said L. Irbīte, “in general, I believe that the festival was at a good organizational level, apart from the mentioned problems with the application.”
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This year, the contents are more fulfilling
Aiga Vangale, head of Pilsrundāle high school dance group “Madaras”, senior dance group “Shurpu turpu” and middle generation dance group “Rundāle”, says that she liked this year’s dance performance even better than the 2018 festival. “In this performance, everything was thought out from the very beginning to the end. The previous holiday was also beautiful, but then the story caused a little sadness and reflection, but this year’s holiday was more joyful in terms of content,” said A. Vangale, “from the beginning I was doubtful when we spent the night in a different school than last time, but I am very satisfied. Both the catering and everything else were excellent, because there was enough food and there was a variety.»
A. Vangale, the leader of the collectives, believes that the Song Festival application was useful because everything was visible in one place. “From the manager’s point of view, the security also satisfied me, I can’t say a single bad word – everything was within the norm,” A. Vangale assesses.
Too long final concert
“I believe that both concerts – “Tīrums” and “Together up” were too long, especially the second one – I felt a little sorry for the audience, because the boring parts could have been shorter,” says the manager of the mixed choir “Iecava” and the women’s choir “Daugaviete” Linda Matveja, “from the point of view of the singers – if you want to honestly sing the entire final concert, which is five hours long, you can’t really go to the bathroom or anything.” L. Matveja considers the concert “Tīrums” to be better from the point of view of content, because both the conductors and the choristers liked it better. “The choristers were a little annoyed that there were so many dances in the final concert “Together Up”. Among themselves, the participants said – we don’t invite dancers to the concert, why do they take up half of our concert?” so L. Matveja.
L. Matveja does not complain about eating and living at the school, as she admits that the “Iecava” choir was very satisfied. “Every day I don’t eat much, but during the Song Festival I really ate a lot, and you could eat as much as you wanted,” says the leader, “of course, dinner was cooler to eat at school than hot food, but you can’t want all the goodies. In the past, it was possible to eat at school during the holidays, even if you come over one night from rehearsals or a concert, but now it is no longer the case.”
“The application was so useful for me to make sure where we eat lunch and dinner. Maybe there were participants who used the application to attend some events, but we didn’t have free time – only two mornings,” says Linda Matveja, “the same information that was in the application could be found on the website of the Song Festival. Perhaps it was necessary to know the specific number of participants, because if someone is a member of several collectives, then his name may “overlap” in the lists.
There should be both songs and dances
Polling the audience leads to the conclusion that they also have the same opinion as the leader of the dance groups L. Irbīte and the conductor L. Matveja – the concert “Cleanliness” is rated very highly and better than the final concert. And the abnormal length of “Together Up” is also criticized by its visitors. “Sitting for five and a half hours without moving is an impossible mission. The organizers should think about that. I have been in the audience at several closing concerts of the Song Festival, but this was the longest. There wasn’t really a climactic conclusion; when I remember the previously directed concert by Uģis Brikmanis, I feel sad. And also – the unadorned stairs and platform looked so ugly to the conductors! However, the dance concert “Eternal Engine” was perfect and emotional, with good content and the power of being together. Super concert! This, in turn, is much better than the big dance performance in 2018. And I was not bothered at all by any checks at the entrance, everything happened quickly and correctly,” says Antra, a resident of Bauškės, her thoughts on the two biggest holiday concerts.
However, the audience does not agree with conductor L. Matveja’s opinion that there was too much dancing in the final concert – they directly refreshed the sometimes boring and drawn-out concert. And several dances are performed with the choir, which is said to be wonderful. If it is a song and dance festival, then the final concert should have both songs and dances. ◆
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FACT
Songs by numbers
A total of 40,560 participants (1,100 from Bauska district) from 23 countries, diaspora collectives from 22 countries took part in the song festival.
1000 volunteers participated in the celebration, among them, for example, the inductee Agita Hauka.
Several proposals were made during the song and dance festival, and a song festival baby was born.
More than 174,000 tickets have been sold, with an estimated attendance of around 500,000.
Latvian Television’s live broadcasts of festive events were watched in 50 countries.
Source: Post-holiday conference on July 10.
2023-07-14 18:05:57
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