The Historical and Artistic Aspects of the Latvian School Youth Dance Festival

Abstract

As the idea of the national significance of the festival in the life of each inhabitant of Latvia developed, starting from 1960 the School Youth Song and Dance Festival became an independent movement. The School Youth Song and Dance Festival is included into the UNESCO celebration and event calendar, by marking its 50th anniversary and recognizing the role of this tradition in preserving and inheriting the general Baltic song and dance tradition. Therefore the Latvian School Youth Song and Dance Festival has become a significant culturally historical event of a global scale. The article analyzes the preconditions for development of such a dance festival, by emphasizing the contribution of the 10th School Youth Dance Festival (2011) to the development of this tradition. Yet the key benefit lies in the fact that the Dance Festival ensures the inheritence of the tradition in all generations, it enhances the interest of the society in traditional culture and, in the globalized times, maintains the national peculiarities of a small nation.