Ieva Adāviča
1945
Choreographer, director of dance groups
Born 24 December 1945 in Liepāja. Studied the fundamentals of dance at the Liepāja Ballet Studio under L. Bubers. Graduated from the Rīga Cultural and Education Workers’ Technical College (1963–1967), gaining practical experience with Imants Magone in the Liesma (Flame) folk-dance ensemble (1964–1966).
Has worked in Vidzeme for twenty years, in Valmiera as director of the Gauja (1967–1975), Rasa (Dew, 1977–1988) folk-dance ensembles and Sadancis (since 2005) youth folk-dance group, and in Smiltene as long-term director of the Ieviņa (1976–2008) folk-dance ensemble. Thanks to Adāviča’s selfless work, these ensembles have always been among Latvia’s best, having won competition prizes, as well as staging many interesting concert programmes.
At the same time, the artist has focused on creating new dances, composing many new children’s dances, which have received awards at reviews and been included in the Dance-celebration repertoire.
A Chief choreographer at the 10th Dance Celebration, Honorary Chief choreographer at the 15th, 16th and 17th Dance Celebrations, Chief choreographer at the 9th Latvian School Youth Song and Dance Celebration, Chief choreographer for Valmiera (1967–1993) and Valka (since 1994) dance groups, a Chief choreographer at the Limbaži (1983) regional dance festival, and has served on dance-competition juries.
Bearer, Order of the Three Stars (2016), National Culture Capital Foundation Lifelong Stipendiate, Ministry of Culture Certificate of Recognition recipient (2015), presented by Minister of Culture Dace Melbarde, who stated: “I am proud of Ieva and the dancers, the concert was outstanding because Ieva knows no other way. She has worked brilliantly throughout her life, demanding a lot of herself, demanding much from her dancers. Ieva Adāviča is very focused, quiet, but her dances speak to us. In them we can see her attitude towards Latvia, people, dance, art, our cultural heritage, creativity.” In early 2023 the contribution of Ieva Adāviča has been recognized with the lifetime award of the national award “Dejas balva”.
