Latvian national dance on the runway of Riga Airport
The event is a present from Riga Airport to our country in honour of the 30th anniversary of the Baltic Way - the most impressive and important activity on the way to the regaining of the independence of Latvia.
On the 23rd of August 1989, two million people in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia joined hands, creating a human chain spanning through all the three countries. It connected the capitals of the Baltic States - Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius to commemorate the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact signed by Germany and the USSR on the 23rd of August 1939. It was a powerful gesture designed to strengthen each other in the fight for a common goal - to regain the independence of the Baltic States. People of different ages, nationalities, religions and social groups took part in the event creating a 675.5 km-long human chain.
To contribute to this event, we are organising a special event - a unique performance of the Latvian national dance called Gatves deja on the runway. It will be performed by more than 100 dancers from three folk dance groups of our local community. The performance will be filmed with multiple cameras and also from a drone and will be live-streamed on Facebook and several major Latvian news portals.
Gatves deja has been chosen for this unique performance because, as the dancers themselves say, it is the dance of all dances - a very simple and at the same time the most vivid revelation of the essence of Latvian national dance. Originally it was created as a wedding dance, with the majestic stature, the beauty of the national dresses and the nobleness of movements reflecting the promise that a man and a woman give to each other - to live the life in love, trust and hope. Today, Gatves deja also conveys a much deeper message, symbolizing the power of people, self-confidence and pride for their homeland, which has allowed the Latvian people to preserve their national values and faith in their country through wars, occupations and deportations.