The festival-competition "Morning Star" involved thousands in a dance frenzy

in 2024 From May 14 to 19, the XVII international dance festival-competition "Morning Star" took place in Šiauliai. This year, the festival organized by the Šiauliai Cultural Center's choreography studio "Aušrelė" (artistic director M. Kosaitis and V. Adomėnaitė-Butnorienė) gathered almost 1,500 dancers from Lithuania and abroad to the city of Saulė. The dance festival delighted the people of Šiauliai and the guests of the city with exceptional concerts of the participants and high-level competitive dance performances. During the festival-competition, a practical dance seminar "Jazz Dance Innovations" was held, and the almost week-long dance marathon was crowned by the final concert of the festival.
The organizer - Šiauliai Cultural Center. Financed by Šiauliai City Municipality. Information sponsor "Etaplius".

The international festival-competition "Aušrinė žvaigždė" has been fostering the art of dance in Šiauliai for almost twenty years. The organizer of the event is the choreography studio "Aušrelė" - one of the oldest collectives of the Šiauliai Cultural Center, founded back in 1962. These professionals prepare a special program of the event every year, which attracts many lovers and nurturers of dance art. This year is no exception. The festival-competition organized for the seventeenth time on May 14-19 gathered almost one and a half thousand participants not only from Lithuania, but also from foreign countries. According to the artistic director of the choreography studio "Aušrelė", Mindaugas Kosaitis, this is probably the only full-fledged dance festival-competition in Lithuania, which includes both competition and celebration.

A very important part of the international festival-competition "Morning Star" is the competitive performances. Traditionally, three competition parts were held this year - folk, classical and contemporary dance. All contestants were divided into different age groups, consisting of groups of various sizes, duets or soloists. The competent commission is Olga Freiberga, chief ballet master of the Dance Day of the Latvian Song Festival, long-time artistic director of the children's folk dance ensemble "Dzintarinš", ballet master of the Lithuanian schoolchildren's song festival, Aistė Kavolienė, head of the Dance Department of the Mika Petrauskas School of Performing Arts in Kaunas, and choreographer, former Klaipėda State Musical Theater Ballet soloist of the troupe, artistic director of the choreography studio "Aušrelė" of the Šiauliai Cultural Center, dance teacher-methodologist, founder and manager of the dance studio "Vita Dance" Vita Adomėnaitė-Butnorienė - evaluated the performances according to the suitability of the repertoire for the age group, the technical and aesthetic aspects of the performance of the work.

For the fourth year, it was also possible to participate in the festival-competition remotely. This year, participants from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine tried their luck in the competition. Dancers from Poland, Denmark, the United States of America, Georgia and Italy demonstrated their talent at a distance.

This year's dance festival did not lack entertainment events: in the heart of the city of Šiauliai, on the pedestrian boulevard, there were dances dedicated to Children's Day, energetic folk dances "Shoka visi", in which both festival participants and spectators gyrated to the rhythm of the dance. Guests from the Czech Republic gave professional performances to the residents of Šiauliai and the guests of the city - folklore ensemble "Ondraš" (director Lt. Col. Mgr. Aleš Krkoška) and Kaunas Dance Theater "Aura", which presented the dance performance "I would like to be a fern flower".

It's nice that "Morning Star" is expanding its geography - one of the festival's concerts "Shokis jungia mus" took place in Plungė district. In Alsėdii Stanislaus Narutavičius high school, where different nations gathered: dance performances were given not only by high school dancers, but also by guests from Ukraine - the children's folk dance ensemble "Barvinok" and the exemplary choreographic group "Zadorinka".

This year, the 17th international festival-competition "Aušrinė žvaigdė", which lasted almost a week, was traditionally crowned with an award ceremony and a closing concert.

The information is provided by Zita Mundinienė, cultural activity manager of the choreography studio "Aušrelė" of the Šiauliai Cultural Center, mobile. +370 678 36 701, e-mail Mr. zita.mundiniene@siauliukc.lt.

Photo by Rolandas Parafinavičius and Liubov Yarmoshenko.