Dance Show “Indulis and Ārija” Returns to Xiaomi Arena in Riga

On Saturday, 14 November, at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., the dance production “Indulis and Ārija”, based on motifs from a work by the Latvian poet and playwright Rainis, will be performed again at Xiaomi Arena in Riga. The show features in a roundup of cultural events during the week when Lāčplēsis Day and Latvia’s birthday are celebrated. Last November the production was staged at the arena for just one day and many people missed it, so it is returning at audience request.

A large-scale cast

More than 400 dancers will share the stage. Over 300 of them are students of choreographer Agris Daņiļevičs’s dance school “Dzirnas”, joined by dancers from the folk dance ensembles “Ogre” and “Lielupe”. The performance is further supported by the chamber orchestra “Sinfonietta Rīga”, conducted by Normunds Šnē, and the mixed choir of the Riga Cathedral Choir School, conducted by Jurģis Cābulis.

The production is built on Daņiļevičs’s choreography, original music by Valters Pūce and direction by Intars Rešetins-Pētersons. The music will be played live, with the composer himself performing the cello solo. An accompanying band will also appear.

A story of choice and belonging

The show tells of love, choice, freedom and belonging, of a person’s inner strength and the external forces that try to influence it. Daņiļevičs translates Rainis’s world into the stage language typical of “Dzirnas”: a mass dance in which precise movement and physical power serve to express the story and emotion.

According to the choreographer, Patriots’ Week is a procession of Latvian identity and love of homeland, and this production is a way to celebrate both Lāčplēsis Day and Latvia’s birthday. Its creators describe it as a patriotic but not didactic story, intended for the whole family and several generations.