Elga Drulle
1932
Ballet master, stage director
Born 24 March 1932 in Rīga. Studied at the Rīga Secondary School of Choreography and graduated from the Moscow State Dramatic Art Institute in 1959. Started her career as the chief ballet master of the Rīga Operetta Theatre (1959–1964).
Has also staged dances in many other theatres – in the Young People’s Theatre with Pēteris Pētersons, Ādolfs Šapiro, Pāvels Homskis, Nikolajs Šeiko, Alvis Birkovs, Uģis Brikmanis, and has choreographed several productions by Arkādijs Kacis and other directors at the Rīga Russian Drama Theatre, also worked with theatres in Lithuania and Estonia.
Drulle’s contact with Latvian folk dancing came through creating impressive ethnographic performances for the Saulgrieži (Solstice) ensemble. She has written more than 20 new dances and folk-dance arrangements, which have taken prizes at new-dance competitions, such as Vainadziņu pinu (I Braided my Wreath), the Latgale Polka, Meita gāja uz avotu (The Lass Went to the Spring) and more.
At the 6th Dance Celebration, directing the festive prologue, Drulle marks out the contour of Latvia with dancers for the first time in the history of Dance Celebrations, as well as staging her new work Lielvārdes josta (The Lielvārde Belt) – which contains a symbolic message about the signs of destiny woven into the belt’s patterns by our ancestors – as part of the festive programme. In 1989, the artist co-directed the West Coast Latvian Song Festival in Los Angeles. The performances of dancers in Drulle’s major-scale productions look particularly magnificent and emotional, covering the entire space, not just part of the stage, and presenting vivid visual effects. In 2013, the dance master’s book Latvija dejo (Latvia Dances) was published, relating the historical development of Latvian folk dance.
Stage Director and a Chief choreographer of the 5th Dance Celebration and a Chief choreographer at the 6th Dance Celebration, Honorary Chief choreographer at the 15th - 17th Dance Celebrations.
Lifelong Stipendiate of the State Culture Capital Foundation (2006).
