Baiba Bredovska

1949
Teacher, folk dance group leader, active public worker

Baiba Bredovska (née Smita-Kaleja (Šmita-Kalēja)) was born in 1949 in Sweden to a refugee family who left Latvia in a fishing boat in December 1944 and crossed the Baltic Sea at night to Gotland.

At the age of two, she and her family left for Canada where she later graduated from Latvian schools in Hamilton and attended the Latvian church Sunday school. She worked in the 10th Venta Girl Guides in Hamilton, first as a member and later as a leader. Participated in Latvian youth activities: folk dancing, singing in choir, attending Latvian courses and camps. In 1968, she attended the World Youth Congress in Berlin. In 1969, she obtained a teaching licence at Hamilton Teachers College.

After studying at McMaster University in Hamilton, she obtained a BA in World Religions and Classical Literature in 1972. From 1973 to 1974 she worked as a boarding teacher and head of classes for primary school children at the Latvian Gymnasium in Münster, Germany. She created a song and dance performance “Journey through Latvia” for primary school children, which she performed in several Latvian centres in Germany.

After returning to Canada in 1974, she worked for 28 years as a teacher, first in primary school for children with learning disabilities and later for adults with developmental disabilities. In 1975 she became qualified to teach English as a second language, and from 1977 to 1980, in addition to her work in schools, she continued to further her knowledge to be able to teach children with special needs. In 1983 she completed the first level in pre-school education.

She has worked at the Latvian school in Hamilton for 36 years, starting with nine years after studies. After a break of several years, when her own children were already at pre-school age, she started volunteering as a school administrator and teacher for another 27 years. In addition to her duties as caretaker she taught Latvian language, home economics, managed the library and organised events. During the same time, she was the librarian of the Toronto Latvian Society Saturday School for seven years.

She became involved in folk dancing in her teen years and started dancing with the Hamilton folk dance group "Rota" and later "Vija" under the direction of Laimdota Morusa. She has danced at various Latvian events, at the EXPO 67 world exhibition in Montreal (1967) and at Latvian song festivals in Canada and the USA. Morusa was a strict teacher who hammered into her dancers precise dancing according to the principles, descriptions, steps, and moves of Latvian folk dances. The dance group she led won awards in folk dance competitions at the Song Festival. The dance group declined in the early 1970s as a number of young people went to study outside Hamilton or moved elsewhere.

In 1975/1976 a new generation of dancers had emerged and Morusa was invited to resume the leadership of the folk-dance group in Hamilton. She wanted to pass on the leadership to a new generation and recommended Bredovska to take over as leader, promising to help as needed.

Thus, on 7 March 1976, the folk-dance group "Vainadzins" (Little Wreath) was founded under the auspices of the Hamilton Daugavas Vanagi, denoting the close wreath of dance and friendship that is woven among the dancers. In 1984 the youth dance group was joined by children's group "Mazais vainadzins" and in 1988 by adult group "Viz vainadzins". Under Bredovska's leadership from 1976 to 2011, "Vainadzins" presented dance programmes in several locations in Canada and the USA and represented Latvians at many national and multicultural festivals.

"Vainadzins" has participated in all Latvian song festivals in Canada and the USA, all Latvian youth song festivals in Canada and the USA and has crossed the ocean to dance at the World Free Latvian Song Days in Gotland, Sweden, in 1979 and in Münster, Germany, in 1984. The highlight of this period was participation in the XX Latvian Song and Dance Festival in Riga in 1990, at a time when Latvia was taking its first steps towards freedom.

Bredovska has created 12 new dances, seven of which "Vainadzins" has performed in competitions for newly created dances at song festivals in Canada and the USA. Some of them have been awarded prizes, while some have been included in future folk dance performances.