MIDDLE GENERATION DANCE COLLECTIVE "LAIPA"

The dance group "Laipa" is important not only in the history of Jelgava city, but also in the history of the development of Latvian folk dance, because the founder of the ensemble is Vilis Ozols, a dance choreographer who was awarded the Golden Medal of the Order of the Three Stars. The collective was founded in June 1994. Initially, it was created by the parents of the members of the children's dance collective "Ieviņa".

Uldis Ozols was the founder and first manager of "Laipas", but after a short time, Vilis Ozols took over the leadership of the team, and already in 1996, the team under the leadership of V. Ozols participated in an international dance festival in Belgium.

In 1998, "Laipa" won the 1st place diploma in the show of dance groups and showed the third best result among 66 dance groups of Zemgale region.

The dance collective "Laipa" has significantly contributed to the creation of new Latvian dances with its activities. Many Latvian original dances have been created here, which have also entered the repertoire of other dance groups. In 1998, the 4 dances of the 12th Dance Festival's big performance - "Midsummer's Day", "The Long Wife", "Kupleju dancis" and "Beķercepti klingerīši" - were first staged in the dance collective "Laipa". The dance created by V.Ozola in Laip was "Visi saka", which in 2000 the collective performed in the creative dance competition in Valmiera. The united dance collectives performed it at the Zemgale County Dance Festival in Bauska.

Therefore, "Laipa" can rightly be considered a Latvian creative dance laboratory.