Folk dance ensemble Ačkups comes 2nd in the Song and Dance Festival competition

On 17 June, Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) folk dance ensemble Ačkups took part in the final competition of the XXVII Latvian Song and XVII Dance Celebration and took 2nd place.

The competition featured several middle-generation or group D ensembles and 16 of Latvia's best group A dance ensembles: Folk Dance Ensemble (TDA) Ačkups, TDA Dancis, TDA Diždancis, TDA Kalve, TDA Liesma, TDA Līgo, Dance Ensemble (DA) Pērle, TDA Rotaļa, DA Austris, DA Daiļrade, TDA Gatve, TDA Lielupe, Youth Dance Collective (JDK) Sadancis, TDA Teiksma, TDA Vektors and JDK Vizbulīte.

The dancers of each group performed three dances. One of them had to be from the XVII Dance Festival's grand concert Mūžīgais dzinējs or from the repertoire of the concert programme Balts, but the other two could be freely chosen choreographies. The dancers from Ačkups took part in the dance competition with Dagmāra Bārbale's dance Dievzemīte, tēvzemīte, which will be performed at the concert Balts in Arena Riga, Jānis Ērglis' choreography Klipu, klapu danci vedu and Reinis Rešetins' dance Zem tupeles nedzīvoš'.

According to the jury's evaluation, Ačkups came 2nd in the final with 96.13 points and took 5th place among the Group A ensembles, just behind Teiksma, Dancis, Daiļrade and TDA Vektors, who won the competition with 97.60 points.

"Together we have made it to the last stop before this summer's big event – the Song and Dance Festival!"

wrote Elita Treilone, the leader of the ensemble, and the passionate dancers of Ačkups, on their website.