History

The group was established in 1980 by an ethnochoreographer Ernests Spīčs (in tje middle with accordion) with an aim to preserve and popularize Latvian ethnographic and folklore dances. He created the group’s dancing style which is characterized by developed posture, sence of dancing and carefully eloborated details. Studying folklore notes the creative laboratory of Dandari has created numeruos reconstructions and interpretations of folk songs which are widely popular among folklore friends. Apart from that there are materials gathered by dandari themselves which are used in different programmes – starting with common social life and seasonal tradition performances until a modern folklore theatre.

Along with folk dances the participants of Dandari enjoy also the Latvian traditional festivals which are connected with the old Solar Calendar revealing its course in the sky. Each season has its own characteristic costums, songs and games – traditions of harvest and dead suols’period, autumn and winter mask processions, swinging and the sun greeting in Easter, and the most important festival of the year – Jāņi, when people celebrate the midsummer all night long in order to help the world start a new life round.

The peculiarity of regions in Latvia is reflected in our diverse costumes, where special attention is paid to the very accuracy. In our performances we wear the costumes which were still worn in the 19th century when urban elements gradually entered social life, but the honoured position was given to self-made skirts, embroidered shirts and woolen shalws decorated with silver brooches.

Dancers proudly wear the national costumes of their native places. We strive to observe the regional peculiarites also in songs and dance steps.

Dandari are proud of their great musicians who know folk dance repertoire and are keen on dancing themselves. The sence of dancing is expressed in their enthusiastic manner of playing both for dancers and in the band’s sound records. Musicians of Dandari are trying to imitate the playing manner of folk musicians. For the dance accompaniment the music instruments, which were used at the end of the 19th century, are played – violins, cither, mandolin and contrabass. We use also old kokle, bagpipes and pipes.