Journal articles on the topic 'Latvian drama'

Latvian theatre director Anna (Asja) Lācis and her life partner, German theatre director and theoretician Bernhard Reich, began their professional careers in Latvia and Germany in the 1920s during the period of European modernism. During the second half of the 20th century, the paths of both their private and professional relationships lead them to the Soviet Union – a place whose ideological system and theatre they remained intertwined with for the rest of their lives. Both artists were then directly affected by Stalinist repressions. In 1948, Anna Lācis returned to Latvia and began working at Valmiera Drama Theatre. In 1951, Bernhard Reich also moved to Latvia, which remained his place of residence until his death. Both internationally recognized artists were buried at the Rainis Cemetery in Riga. This article provides insight into Bernhard Reich’s unpublished manuscript titled Valmieras teātris (Valmiera Theatre), which reveals the left-leaning western artist’s perspective of the history of Valmiera Theatre in the 1950s and the 1960s as well as the art of Socialist Realism that was both surprising and, at the time, unheard of in the history of Latvian theatre.

During the 90s of the 20th century revival of Latgalian literature took place in the Republic of Latvia. It was a gradual process; in 2001 in “History of Latvian Literature" created by the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia (ILFA) Ieva E. Kalniņa wrote about poetry of the 90s where she admitted that “it is already quite customary that poetry can be read in Latgalian written language”. Recent studies of Latvian literature in the 90s of the 20th century show that authors have different attitude towards Latgalian literature: Guntis Berelis has not included the revival of Latgalian literature in his list of the new phenomena of Latvian literature in his book “History of Latvian Literature”; among the ILFA researchers only Ieva E. Kalniņa mentions Oskars Seiksts, Anna Rancāne, Andris Vējāns, Osvalds Kravalis along with Vends and Livs among other phenomena of the 90s poetry; meanwhile in the review of prose and drama Latgalian literature is not mentioned at all. In 2007 Māris Salējs in his essay “Reflection on Latvian Literature 2000–2006” included Latgalian poets in the description of Latvian poetry, thus Valentīns Lukaševics and Juoņs Ryučāns together with Kārlis Vērdiņš and Marts Pujāts make up a characteristic trend. In the description of other genres Latgalian literature is not mentioned in this publication either. In this article the similarities and differences of Latvian and Latgalian literary revival process of the late 80s and the 90s of the 20th century are examined with special attention to the literary monthly magazine „Karogs” (Flag). The article deals with the development of literary process, cultural and historical methods are used to reach the aim of this paper – to find out what elements constitute the way to the establishment of Latgalian literature in Latvian cultural space and the importance of literary magazine „Karogs” in this process. There are several common trends of Latvian and Latgalian literary renewal in the 80s and 90s of the 20th century literary process: 1) return of repressed Latvian and Latgalian writers and their work to Latvian culture (such as Marta Skuja); 2) broad entry of exile literature into circulation for Latvian readership (Jānis Klīdzējs Marija Andžāne, etc.); 3) reprinted works, written during the 20s and 30s and unpublished in the Soviet time (Aleksandrs Adamāns); 4) in both traditions a number of exile periodicals begin to come out and some Latvian time periodicals are restored („Acta Latgalica”); 5) return of exile archives to Latvia („Latgaļu sāta”). Postmodern tendencies are observed not only in works of Aivars Ozoliņš, Jānis Vēvers or Gundega Repše, but also in creative work of O. Seiksts. Latgalian language and literature in Latvian cultural space has a special situation: there are important tasks to complete – to create a new alphabet, restore confidence in Latgalian literature in both traditions, the young and middle generation have to start writing in Latgalian tradition. Monthly magazine “Karogs” vividly reveals the new trends in Latgalian literature of the turn of the 80s and 90s, an important role is played by editor Andris Vējāns. It was „Karogs” which published one of the most influential texts of national awakening in Latgalian tradition – poem by O. Kravalis „Brōļ, pīmiņ!” (Brother, remember!). This publication is undeniably regarded as programmatic in Latvian and Latgalian literary traditions, declaring the return of Latgalian tradition and accepting the existence of both literatures. Among important publications in 1988 in the magazine about remembrance of Latgale cultural week, there was an article by Antons Stankēvičs „Atkusnī uzplaucis zieds” (A thaw flower) and Juris Pabērzs’ article „Skan joprojām” (It still sounds) where the role of the minister of culture Voldemārs Kalpiņš was emphasized. Poetry section published a poem of Antons Kūkojs „Atceroties Latgales kultūras nedēļu pirms 30 gadiem” (Remembering Latgale cultural week 30 years ago). The 1989 concept of magazine „Karogs” is obvious in publications of Latvian and Latgalian texts as a desire to respect the two literary traditions and present them to readers throughout Latvia. In 1990 and 2000 when the editor is Māra Zālīte, works of Roberts Mūks, A. Rancāne, J. Klīdzējs are published, some of them are in Latgalian, but mainly publications are in the Latvian literary language. There are two important articles in „Karogs”. Issue No.4, 1994 published Janīna Kursīte’s article „Latgaliešu literatūra – kas tu esi?” (Latgalian literature – who are you?), where the importance of dialects was emphasized and their ability to enrich the Latvian language, also this article pointed out the importance of periphery for the development of centre. Regarding recent Latgalian literature J. Kursīte’s assessment is blunt:”If one looks more carefully at what is published in the Latgalian literary language, one cannot overlook that artistically much of it is “rubbish”.” In 1997 was published Ilga Muižniece’s elegant review „Rūgtais pieradums – (ne dzīvot)” (Bitter habit – (not to live)) about O. Seiksts’ and V. Lukaševics’ novel „Valerjana dzeive i redzīni” (Valerjan’s life and opinions). The 90s mark two cultural traditions of Latgalian literature: 1) to some extent in the Latvian tradition Latgalian literature is viewed as an ethnographic tradition, which shows the possibilities of the Latvian language, diversity of traditions, complements Latvian literature with Latgalian vitality and charm, marks its catholic orientation, shows the natural beauty of Latgale; 2) Latgalian literature is considered an independent literature, writing in Latgalian is authors’ way of self-expression, it does not try to add anything to Latvian literary tradition, and it is based in Latgale and together with the Latvian literary tradition forms Latvian literature. Revival of Latgalian literature is one of the brightest features of culturally restored independent Latvia.

The article gives an insight into the theatre department pedagogue activity for the training of the emerging drama actors for practice at theatre at Arts higher education school. Monographs, scientific publication materials and archive documents have been analysed on pedagogues’ activities at the theatre faculty and the former and the existing pedagogues’ interview data about the student training for activity at theatre. The comparative analysis of the drama art study programmes from 1948 till 2015 has been accomplished. The fact has been emphasized that different directors through times base Latvian drama art on K. Stanislavsky’s notions of the drama mastery of actors due to the successive professional activity implementation at the theatre. The conclusion has been drawn that the emerging actors’ personalities are significant in the training of the emerging actors, their human development would be promoted by inclusion of pedagogy and psychology subjects in the studies by the emerging actors at the tertiary level.

The aim of the research “Historical Memory in the Works of the New Generation of Latvian Theater Artists: The Example of “The Flea Market of the Souls” is to focus on the current but at the same time little discussed topic in Latvian theater – the change of generations and the social processes connected to it, that are expressed on the level of world views, experiences, intergenerational relationships. Most directly, these changes are reflected in the phenomenon of historical memory. The concept of “postmemory” was defined by German professor Marianne Hirsch in 1992, suggesting that future generations are closely related to the personal and collective cultural traumas of previous generations, which are passing on the past experience through historical memory, thus affecting the present. Grotesque, self-irony, and focusing on socio-political, provocative questions and themes are the connecting point of the generation of young Latvian playwrights born in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including such personalities as Jānis Balodis, Rasa Bugavičute-Pēce, Matīss Gricmanis, Justīne Kļava, etc. However, unlike Matīss Gricmanis or Janis Balodis who represent the aesthetics of political theater, in Justīne Kļava’s works, sociopolitical processes become the background of a generally humanistic study of the relationships between generations. This theme is represented not only in “The Flea Market of the Souls”, but also in other plays, like “Jubilee ‘98” and “Club “Paradise””. The tendency to investigate the traces left by the Soviet heritage allows to define these works as autobiographical researches of the identity of the post-Soviet generation, analyzing life in today's Latvia in terms of historical memory. Using the semiotic, hermeneutic, phenomenological approach, the play “The Flea Market of the Souls” and its production in Dirty Deal Teatro (2017) are analyzed as one of the most vivid works reflecting the phenomenon of historical memory in recent Latvian original drama.

The breakout of Covid-19 pandemic and the related social distancing require- ments closed all theatres and forced everyone to move to digital platforms and look for alternative presence solutions in public events. It also made us reconsider the term liveness in the context of screen-mediated theatrical experience and brought to hybrid solutions that would have not been accepted previously. The article tackles the development of theatre processes during the first period of emergency state in Latvia (March – June, 2020) and aims to document the experience of theatre forum organized at the beginning of November 2020 literally on the threshold of the second-wave related lockdown in culture. It aims to address to immediate impacts of Covid-19 to theatre ecosystem in Latvia and illustrate the ongoing way to inevitable changes in culture industry.

The repertoire of the Riga Workers’ Theatre (1926–1934) reflected the trends of the time and leftist progressive ideas. City life as a nodal point of modern reality became inspiration and material for plays, poetry performances, dramatised feuilletons and interludes commenting on current events. The aesthetic programme of the theatre envisaged the creation of a peculiar sovereign artistic style, where the new dramaturgy played an important role. Topical and recently created works by contemporary authors were chosen for the repertoire with an emphasis on the search for novelty. In the first years, while the director was Roberts Dukurs, the dramaturge was Jānis Grots, then Arvīds Grigulis; after this function was taken over by the director Kārlis Dziļleja. The article aims to introduce the main principles of the Riga Workers’ Theatre repertoire policy, focusing on an overview of the contributions of Latvian authors. Rainis, Andrejs Upīts, and Pāvils Gruzna played a dominant role in the ideological decisions of the repertoire. A circle of progressive authors gathered around the theatre, creating a contemporary drama laboratory. Young authors Aleksandrs Čaks, Valdis Grēviņš, Fricis Rokpelnis, Jūlijs Vanags, and others experienced their first works on stage in this theatre. The research object is dramaturgical works and testimonies describing the productions – programme leaflets, reviews, reminiscences, etc. The article discusses innovative trends in drama and the expansion of the concept of dramaturgy to the dynamics of stage set, musical and choreographic action. As a result, the consistently executed repertory policy heralded a new type of drama programme by achieving a synthesis of contemporary content and new visual, musical and choreographic forms. The article concludes that creating innovative drama forms and genre experiments on the Riga Workers’ Theatre stage significantly contributed to the development of Latvian dramaturgy.

In this paper, the role of popular culture in fin-de-siècle Latvian literature has been explored by analysing the mid-nineteenth century Latvian translation of Christoph Schmid’s novel Genoveva (1846) by Ansis Leitāns, and unfinished drama Genoveva (1908) by Rūdolfs Blaumanis. While the first version of the Genoveva story was created according to the patterns of popular literature and played a significant role in the development of the Latvian reading public, the author of the second version attempted to turn the plot of popular fiction into a work of elite literature, elaborating the issue of female agency and adding psychological ambiguity to the plot. The mixture of popular melodramatic imagination and modernist themes, as observed in Blaumanis’s work, provides a deeper insight into fin-de-siècle literary techniques by turning attention to the conscious use of different literary styles and narrative levels and illuminating interactions between popular and elite culture. By comparing both works and interpreting their aesthetic innovations in terms of the relationship between idealism, realism and modernism, this paper traces the ways in which fin-de-siècle Latvian literature appropriated and reworked models of popular culture and developed new aesthetic insights by merging elements of low and high culture.

The aim of this article is to explore environmentally conscious theatre practices in the Latvian performing arts scene in the period 2019–2022. Firstly, the article provides an insight into the concepts of ecotheatre and ecoscenography according to theatre scholars Una Chaudhuri, Theresa J. May, Lisa Woynarski, Tanja Beer, and Sofia Pantouvaki and their theoretical perspectives. Secondly, the paper identifies the current internal position on sustainability issues within those Latvian theatres which take into account sustainable practices through ecotheatre production process. Thirdly, the article highlights those ecotheatre case studies which demonstrate a sustainability-based approach to performance production. With the rise of environmental issues, the role of performing arts in shaping the ecological consciousness of society is growing. Therefore it is crucial not only to look at the eco-narratives of theatre productions but also to analyse the process of making performances and the related sustainability aspects. Despite the fact that theatre has historically developed an anti-ecological character, there are increasing signs of a shift in thinking among theatre professionals worldwide, towards an awareness of the potential environmental impact of the production and performance. In Latvia too, the last decade – from 2012 to 2022 – has seen an increase in ecotheatre productions that not only use ecodramaturgical materials as their basis but also incorporate sustainability-based practices in the process of creating these productions. The research, rooted in descriptive and comparative methods, shows that small theatre companies are more open and ready to introduce sustainability principles into their theatre activities. The focus on identifying and mitigating ecological impacts in the Latvian theatre scene is currently an individual choice of the artist, lacking a systematic approach to the process of creating performances. With the growth of original drama works about the relations between human and nature, new forms of performance are also entering the theatre repertoires, which allow to address sustainability aspects in the process of performance creation. Considering ecotheatre as a form of environmental activism, it is also important to respect the principles of sustainability in the production of ecotheatre performances, which is why theatre professionals should aim for a systematic approach to sustainability in the production of a performance.

Mīla Cīrule (1891–1977) is one of the first Latvian dancers who went in for the genre of modern dance at the beginning of the 20th century. At the end of the 1920s the dancer earned her recognition in Germany and Austria, and her name was mentioned among the most striking modern dance choreographers in France in the 1930s; her contribution to teaching dance was also appreciated. Mīla Cīrule is the first Latvian dancer who has become internationally renowned in the field of modern dance. The aim of this research is to follow the development path of Mīla Cīrule’s creative work by gathering information and analysing artistic influences which have created the unusual creative personality aspects of the dancer. Mīla Cīrule was born in Riga; however, she started her dance career in Russia in Ellen Tels’ (Эллен Тельс) school. This school followed Isadora Duncan’s artistic criteria in their creative principles. In parallel with acquisition of free dance, the young dancer attended classical dance classes at soloist Mikhail Mordkin’s (Михаил Михайлович Мордкин) school of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre (Большой театр). After meeting Mary Wigman and studying the philosophy of German expressionist dance, Mīla Cīrule rethought the principles and expressive means of her art; she refused unnecessary ostentation, and sought an individual way of expression. “Mīla Cīrule’s choreographies are high quality works of art which speak volumes about the choreographer’s rich world of ideas and a good sense of form, while her dance technique is always perfectly adapted to the contents of the staging production” [Dārziņš 1938]. In her staging productions Mīla Cīrule combined an expressive style with very well-considered and precise principles of form creation. In her creative work the brave reliance upon instinctively found movements of the Wigman School always complied with a strict sense of drama structure and subtlety of details that had been acquired from Ellen Tels’ aesthetics of the pantomimic staging productions. As an original and extraordinary personality, Mīla Cīrule is not similar to any artist of her time in her creative work. She adopted and accumulated everything she had learned at many dance schools, and she passed it through the prism of her personality.

After the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by the Russian Federation in 2014, the attitude of Baltic theatre producers and artists towards cultural and institutional partnerships with Russian theatres and their involvement in the mutual artistic exchanges, tours, common projects, and networking changed; not only due to these exchanges becoming a controversial issue in the public eye, but also due to the polarization they caused in the artistic community itself. Some artists, like Latvian stage director Alvis Hermanis, have decisively terminated all their previous creative partnerships, arrangements and tours, calling also other theatre artists “to take sides”. Others, like Russian stage and film director Kirill Serebrennikov who, for years, had been involved with Baltic theatres, would regard taking sides as a disastrous yielding of culture to the logic of war – theatre should be kept as the last link between societies gradually separated by reciprocal propaganda insanity. Building upon these conflicts describing the changes in intercultural theatrical cooperation between Russian and Baltic theatres, the article focuses on the analysis of three productions: Dreams of Rainis by Kirill Serebrennikov at the Latvian National Theatre (2015), Alexander Pushkin’s play Boris Godunov directed by Eimuntas Nekrošius at the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre (2015) and Brodsky/Baryshnikov staged by Alvis Hermanis at the New Riga Theatre in 2016. All of the performances refused to stay inside the frameworks marked for them by the regimes of propaganda wars, public diplomacy, or dispositif of security, but focused instead on the possibilities of intellectual disobedience.

The aim of this study is to analyse productions that have theatre as the object of their examination and reflection and which thus fit into the metatheatre paradigm. The research focuses on the theatre practices in Latvia and Lithuania during the last two years, when the socio-political situation has been affected by the global pandemic and, since February 2022, by the war in Ukraine. The geopolitical situation has had a devastating impact on the cultural and creative sectors, according to both research and surveys of theatre practitioners. One of the most pronounced trends during this period is the self-reflection of the theatre. The article includes both works whose literary source material reflects on theatre as a kind of microcosm (“More about life. Theatre”, “A performance that meets butter”, “Dubliners on Miera Street”, “Smiļģis”), as well as productions where the manifestations of metatheatre can be observed not in the verbal text, but in the details of staging or acting, also in the genre, and the way of staging (“for a better world”, “Othello”). A semiotic approach is used for the analysis of performances, which allows studying both the formal structure and content of the performance. There are various theories about metateatrality. The most radical is a view included in Richard Hornby’s research “Drama, Metadrama, and Perception” (1986) that drama always has metatheatrality because any drama is a part of a broader culture that cannot be seen in isolation because theatre uses the codes of that culture. Respecting Hornby’s opinion, the study analyses the current productions of theatres in a narrower sense – the central object of viewing and reflection of the production is the theatre itself, or the production includes allusions to life that resemble a theatre. In order to determine whether the current events of the time are reflected in the message of the production to the audience, attention is also paid to the socio-political situation, which showed signs of a cultural crisis during the period under research. The research concludes that different postulates of metatheatre theory can be identified in Latvian and Lithuanian theatre practice. However, the self-reflection of theatre does not exclude the influence of real life on the concept of directing and the perception of the production. Consequently, the intended message can take on a more contradictory tone or even become an allegory for the existing reality. Metatheatrality as a dramaturgical or directorial tool also makes sense in relation to the genre of the production. Metatheatre is a way of presenting art as a medium for human communication.

Soviet Latvian military officer and writer Roberts Eidemanis (1895–1937) lived and worked in the USSR after the October Revolution of 1917. He debuted as a writer before the First World War, working in poetry, drama and prose. In the 1920s, he became part of the diverse literary environment of the USSR, where various modernist currents worked alongside attempts to politicise and unify literature. The article aims to explore what Eidemanis’s Soviet-era prose was like – did it fit into a modernist literary paradigm, and what were these modernist features? The paper is structured in three sections. The first examines Eidemanis’s evolution as a writer, looking at his literary contribution before the First World War. The second section attempts to compare the novel “The Naked Year” (Golyj god, 1922) and its ornamental aesthetic by Eidemanis’s contemporary and friend Boris Pilnyak (real name Boriss Vogau) with Eidemani’s works, especially his long story “Surrounded” (Ielenktie, 1925). The third section examines the most prominent female characters in Eidemanis’s prose texts from the perspective of the new woman type. The methodological framework of the article is literary comparativism and close reading of texts; a feminist reading is used in the analysis of female characters. The article concludes that in the early 1920s, Eidemanis was influenced by the aesthetics of ornamental prose, elements of which he integrated into his work, especially in the long story “Surrounded”. It is also evident that Eidemanis presents a type of new woman in certain texts, giving his heroines the freedom to choose, open sexuality, highlighting the role of women in society and writing about taboo subjects. These aspects bring certain principles of Eidemanis’s text and character creation towards the modernist literary paradigm.

Abstract Rūrāne I., Evarts-Bunders P., Nitcis M., 2018: Distribution trends of some species of the Brassicaceae family in Latvia. - Botanica, 24(2): 124-131. The aim of this paper was to clarify and analyse the distribution trends of some Brassicaceae species (Bunias orientalis, Sisymbrium volgense, Barbarea arcuata, Draba nemorosa and Camelina alyssum) in Latvia. Field studies and the herbarium material analyses were carried out. The distribution trends were analysed by comparing all selected species in three time periods: by 1940, from 1941 to 1990, and from 1991 to the present. The study shows that the distribution of Brassicaceae species such as Bunias orientalis, Sisymbrium volgense, Barbarea arcuata and Draba nemorosa has increased significantly in Latvia during the time period from 1991 to the present, and these species are mostly found on railway, ruderal areas and roadsides, which are important habitats for species distribution. The occurrence of Camelina alyssum has considerably declined or perhaps the species has even disappeared from the flora of Latvia, which has been affected greatly by changes in the cultivation of agricultural crops as well as in agricultural land management.

Observing lifelong learning programs in Latvia, there is a tendency to develop study courses that ensure the acquisition of new professional knowledge and skills, as well as their development, but a very minor section of courses and programs is devoted to the personality, resources, needs and acquisition of broad skills involved in adult education.In professional and scientific literature there is no reflection of the research conducted so far in Latvia on the use of arts therapies in maintaining the quality of life of adults in the context of lifelong learning.Purpose of the article: to research education as one of the indicators of quality of life in Europe and Latvia and differences and similarities in andragogy and arts therapies in order to get an idea of the possibilities of using arts therapies in lifelong learning.Method: content analysis of pedagogical and psychological literature, scientific articles, data of Eurostat population quality of life surveys, as well as official EU and Republic of Latvia guidelines on quality of life and lifelong learning issues.Results: the professional and personal competencies of an adult educator and an art therapist are highly demanding and have a number of common features. An adult educator and an art therapist have similar professional tasks - to see the needs of those involved in adult education and arts therapies, to support individual self-development, to encourage personality development, thus improving the quality of life. For each specialisation of arts therapies (music, dance and movement, drama and visual plastic) a specific application can be made according to target groups, educational stage and programs, as well as areas of needs.

During ten years, since Latgalian popular music has returned to the mainstream Latvian music stage, 44 Latgalian music albums have been released. The lyrics of these songs are written by musicians, Latgalian and Latvian poets and as a result of teamwork of poets and music authors. The subject of the present research is represented by cultural signs in the song texts of Latgalian bands; the research object is song lyrics of Latgalian bands. Sources selected for the research are the song texts of Latgalian bands and performers: "Borowa MC", "Bez PVN", "Dabasu Durovys", "Green Novice", Laura Bicāne, "Kapļi". Some musicians and bands use Latvian and Latgalian folk songs in their music, yet they are not discussed in the present research. Other musicians use works of Latgalian poets, which are mentioned here only for comparison. Therefore, the key focus is on texts written by musicians themselves, collected from the released music album brochures and from correspondence with band members. The texts of schlager music bands are not examined here either, as they are worth making a separate research.It must be admitted that cultural signs in the examined texts do not occur particularly often, although the feature of the post-modernist culture is related to reassessment and mock of previous culture, the song lyrics are still rather romantic, traditional and compliant with the requirements of mass culture. The use of cultural signs is not characteristic of bands "Green Novice", "Bez PVN" and performer Laura Bicāne, therefore, the song texts of bands "Borowa MC", "Dabasu Durovys" and "Kapļi" are analysed the most. The research has been carried out based on the method of structural semiotics (J. Lotmans, R. Veidemane) by analysing cultural signs found in the selected texts.The signs related to cultural history are rather traditional: Latgale, Latgalians, rarely, some specific natural or geographical objects relevant to cultural historical events or associated exactly with the Latgale region. However, the search for territorial and ethnic identity and its construction for oneself and others (mostly, neighbours of other regions) is one of the main questions in the lyrics. As the mentioned bands "Borowa Mc", "Dabasu Durovys" and "Bez PVN" play popular, mass-oriented music, their texts are mostly intended for broad public, therefore, the first features that characterize the song lyrics of Latgalian bands are the cultivation and preservation of stereotypes. These stereotypes are divided into two groups:1) favourable, emotionally uplifting, sometimes even rousing self-confidence; 2) critical, prejudiced, causing negative atmosphere and emotions.The poetical rock band "Kapļi", which belongs to an alternative direction of Latgalian music and has ironic, sarcastic texts, sing about cultural signs related to Latgale in a completely different way. Their lyrics show a different view of things that are holy, inviolable, and indisputable to many Latgalians.Regarding cultural signs representing the folkloristic level, it must be noted that in this research ‘folkloristic’ is meant in the broadest sense of this word (not only folk compositions, but also events, objects, things that have become a part of folklore over time, often becoming subjects of literary tales), for instance, Pinocchio, the main character combines several characters: a fool, a body-builder, and even a lyrical ego seeking for its own identity. All character appearances, which are reflected in other songs about the modern hero, suggest that the character avoids activity or makes the new world unstable by drawing, making it from plasticine, using the phone, and consequently, creates a virtual world which is modern and transitory. "Dabasu Durovys" reveals their life philosophy and search for meaning with the help of historical cultural signs, for instance, the river Rubicon, known from ancient times, meaning the breaking of links to the past and not returning to previous situation, or the royal court of the Sun King, that symbolizes absolute monarchy, or Napoleon, etc.“Little man” and his daily life are related to another group of cultural signs. Depiction of daily life in poetry shows on the one hand that the author values the place and time of his life; on the other hand it demonstrates an artistic approach to everyday reality. These texts usually convey tragically ironical feeling and show modern typical dramas right beside us. Such characters most frequently appear in the texts of the bands "Kapļi" and "Dabasu Durovys".Even though cultural signs do not appear in the texts of Latgalian bands frequently, they are diverse. Cultural historical signs, which appear in patriotic and ironic lyrics, reveal authors’ homeland Latgale and Latgalians with their typical positive and negative stereotypes. Cultural signs related to Latvia and Europe highlight ironically sharp reality of emigration and infrequent visits to Latvia and are bound to several historical periods, which are mostly related to domestic, rarely social political situations.

Institute of Information Studies, Tallinn University,Narva maantee 25, 10120 Tallinn, EstoniaE-mail: aile@tlu.eeEstija, Latvija ir Lietuva dažnai apibūdinamos vienu geopolitiniu bendravardikliu kaip Baltijos valstybės. Ši sąvoka siejama su Baltijos vienybės ir Baltijos tapatybės sąvokomis. Pastaroji grindžiama bendrais geografinės, istorinės, politinės ir kultūrinės patirties elementais. Šiuo metu po nepriklausomybės atgavimo Baltijos tapatybės sąvoka kartais kvestionuojama ir apibūdinama kaip sovietmečio šmėkla, fikcija, egzistuojanti tiktai Vakarų politikų protuose. Atsižvelgiant į tokius prieštaringus argumentus straipsnyje siekiama nustatyti pagrindines šių šalių kultūros mainų plėtros tendencijas, atspindėtas knygų, verstų iš latvių ir lietuvių kalbų į estų kalbą, leidyboje. Į vertimo istoriją ir struktūrą žvelgiama per verstinių knygų pavadinimų skaičių, žanrus ir populiariausius autorius. Vertimų katalogai, sudaryti įvairių bibliografijų ir bibliografinių duomenų bazių pagrindu, tapo statistinės analizės pagrindu. Nors pirmasis vertimas iš latvių kalbos siekia XVIII a. pabaigą, pirmoje XIX a. pusėje nepasirodė nė vieno vertimo. Vertimo veikla gerokai pagyvėjo antroje amžiaus pusėje, ypač didelio populiarumo sulaukė sentimentalus romanas Pamaldi mergelė Mai Roos, verstas iš J. Dauge Turaidas jumprava. Pirmieji vertimai iš lietuvių kalbos buvo keli apsakymai, išspausdinti XIX a. pabaigoje Estijos periodiniuose leidiniuose. 1901–1917 m. ryšiai tarp Latvijos ir Estijos intelektualų tapo aktyvesni, o drama, ypač R. Blaumanio pjesės, buvo mėgstamas žanras, nes daugybė saviveiklinio teatro trupių ieškojo naujo repertuaro. Tačiau tuo laiku nepasirodė vertimų iš lietuvių kalbos nei atskiromis knygomis, nei periodiniuose leidiniuose. Kultūriniai mainai su kaimyninėmis tautomis apsiribojo istorinėmis Baltijos provincijomis. Kai 1918 m. visos trys Baltijos šalys tapo nepriklausomos, jos atsidūrė panašioje valstybės kūrimo situacijoje, kuri skatino bendradarbiauti. Kultūriniai ryšiai suintensyvėjo, ypač ketvirtojo dešimtmečio antroje pusėje. Latviškos knygos buvo bemaž nuolat verčiamos, bet pavadinimų skaičius buvo gana kuklus (40 pavad.). Leidėjai nepasitikėjo šių vertimų ekonomine sėkme. Vertimai iš lietuvių kalbos buvo skelbiami periodiniuose leidiniuose. Susidomėjimas lietuvių kultūra paplito ketvirtojo dešimtmečio pabaigoje. Bendra sovietinės okupacijos patirtis smarkiai paveikė Baltijos vienybės sąvoką. Tos pačios lemties pojūtis sustiprino ryšius tarp visų trijų Baltijos respublikų žmonių. Kultūros mainai, įskaitant vertimus iš regiono kalbų, suintensyvėjo dėl nuoširdaus domėjimosi vienas kito kultūra ir ideologinių sovietinės literatūros skatinimo sumetimų. Pirmoji knyga iš lietuvių kalbos buvo išversta 1954 metais. Atgavus nepriklausomybę, Baltijos tapatybės jausmas susilpnėjo dėl politinės santvarkos, ekonominių sąlygų pokyčių, prieigos prie pasaulio kultūros, galimybių keliauti. Visa tai pakeitė Baltijos tautų kultūrines orientacijas. Vertimai iš latvių ir lietuvių kalbų pasirodo retai, o vertimų iš lietuvių kalbos skaičius ypač sumažėjo (16 pavadinimų per 1992–2008 m.). Tačiau reikėtų išlaikyti nusistovėjusius ryšius su Baltijos šalimis, kad būtų išsaugota įvairovė, plėtotųsi regioninė kultūrinė tapatybė ir būtų apribota globalizacija.

The question of the meaning of text and acting is becoming increasingly important in modern theatre practice when the expressive possibilities of stage works seem to have no limits. The processes show that the number of performances staging the texts of previously written pieces is decreasing, instead co-creation, improvisation, or performance is becoming the organising principle of the stage. The principles of a playwright’s work change, and the emphasis on the functions of the drama changes. One of the points of reference is the viewer and the interaction between the stage and the audience. The article uses a method developed by a group of Norwegian researchers to characterise different levels of interaction. Performances for young audiences were analysed, where the communication element is of particular importance, since the perceptions and cultural experiences of adult professionals and child audiences differ significantly. The typology of openness – the proximity of dramaturgy allows to describe the specifics of the actors’/performers’ activities and the level of audience participation. From a semiotic point of view, the accent shifts from the sender to the receiver, from the professional adult to the childlike viewer. From a performative point of view, open dramaturgy emphasises communication with the audience and the temporal dimension of the event, bringing the performance closer to the concept of a cultural event.

This paper analyzes the translations of Antigone by Sophocles and later authors and the performances based on them in the theaters of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It investigates the necessity to translate the Antigone dramas by Sophocles, Jean Anouilh and Janusz Głowacki into national languages and stage them in theaters. The article analyzes how these works are related to the history of the Baltic countries. This paper is divided into three subparts that match the historical periods from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century. The most important performances of Antigone in the Baltic countries are analyzed, highlighting the individual style of each director and their attention to the form and expression of the performances. The main themes revealed by the artists of the Baltic countries are conscious self-sacrifice for one’s neighbor and individual resistance to conformity and tyranny.

Managed aquifer recharge is gaining in importance worldwide. As there is not much information on bank filtration (BF) sites in Eastern Europe, a survey of geohydraulic conditions and post-treatment schemes carried out. Such information will make it possible to assess hydraulic conditions in the region and the commonly required post-treatment. Data were collected from publications, archival documentations, maps as well as through direct communication with administrators of relevant water companies. As a result, a summary of the data from 71 BF or BF/artificial recharge (AR) well fields in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia was prepared. Data on the source of water, location, capacity, aquifer thickness and hydraulic conductivity, and treatment methods were collected. Thirteen of the studied 71 RBF well fields are combined with AR. The most common type of BF in Eastern Europe is riverbank filtration (RBF) with wells located along a river. 56% of the analyzed sites are located along larger rivers such as the Danube, Drava, Nemunas, Neris, Odra, Volga, Warta and the Wisła. The smallest BF site has a discharge capacity of only 38 m3/day, the largest BF site 210,000 m3/day, while the smallest and the largest combined BF/AR site has a discharge capacity of 5,500 m3/day and 150,000 m3/day, respectively. The average values of aquifer thickness and hydraulic conductivity are 21 m and 2.7*10-3 m/s, respectively, at BF sites and 16 m and 5.7*10-4 m/s, respectively, at BF/AR sites. The most common post-treatment steps include aeration-filtration – disinfection, UV, ozone and activated carbon being used at many sites as well. The collected data can prove helpful in designing and modernizing BF sites, comparing and establishing direct contacts with water companies facing similar conditions. The outcome of this study is the built-up BF database for Eastern Europe, which can supplement the Global Inventory of Managed Aquifer Recharge Schemes (IGRAC 2017)

A modern man has many opportunities to go into his own nation, country, cultural history, explore and study historical evidence in different areas. The theater in Latvia, in turn, is a serious cultural heritage that every inhabitant of Latvia can be proud of. The author will look at the Daugavpils Musical Drama Theater Foundation. The documents of the Daugavpils Musical Drama Theater provide evidence of a significant stage in Latvian history, which is of interest to the modern society.

Vladislavs Nastavševs is one of the leading contemporary Latvian theatre directors. Nastavševs’ stage productions are constructed by combining elements of psychological theatre, performance art and postdramatic theatre, deliberately expanding the traditional boundaries between the stage and the audience, actors and spectators. Nastavševs’ performances usually contain visually impressive stage metaphors that generate both emotional and psychophysical influence on the spectators, thus exploring new types of performance perception and blurring the boundaries between life (reality) and theatre (fiction). Vladislav Nastavševs (1978) on üks tänapäeva läti teatri juhtivaid lavastajaid, kes alustas tegevust 21. sajandi teisel aastakümnel. Ta omandas teatrialase hariduse välismaal (Peterburis Vene Riiklikus Etenduskunstide Instituudis ja Londonis St. Martin’s College of Arts and Design, Drama Centre’is). Psühholoogilise teatri, performance’i ja postdramaatilise teatri elemente ühendades on ta välja töötanud väga erilise kunstnikukäekirja. Artikkel vaatleb piiride hägustumist lava ja vaatajate vahel Nastavševsi lavastustes ja uurib, kuidas elu (tegelikkuse) ja teatri (fiktsiooni) vahelise eraldusjoone kadumine väljendub tema lavastuste diskursuses. Nastavševsi lavastajategevust võib seostada tänapäeva teatri mitme tendentsiga. Esiteks, alates 1960. aastate lõpu performatiivsest pöördest on teater nihkunud aktiivsema vaatajatega suhtlemise poole, võttes teatrit osana „tegelikust elust“ ja muutes vahe teatri kui fiktsiooni ja elu kui tegelikkuse vahel segasemaks. Vladislavs Nastavševs vaidlustab oma lavastustes pidevalt piire tegeliku elu ja kunstimaailma vahel, püüdes uurida eri võimalusi ja aspekte teatri kui illusiooni (fiktsionaalse kunstimaailma) ja tegeliku elu vahelistes suhetes. Teiseks, nüüdisaegseid teatritendentse järgides sulatab Nastavševs oma lavastustes ühte eri kunstivorme (teater, tänapäeva tsirkus, visuaalne kunst, muusika, tants, performance, jne.), kaldudes seega interdistsiplinaarse esituskeele poole. Kolmandaks, nagu paljud tänapäeva Läti ja Euroopa teatritegelased, näiteks Alvis Hermanis (Läti), Ivo van Hove (Belgia), Frank Castorf, Thomas Ostermeier (Saksamaa), Katie Mitchell (Ühendkuningriik) ja teised, seob ka Vladislavs Nastavševs oma etendustes keeruka etendusesteetika loomiseks ühte tugevad visuaalsed, füüsilised ja auditiivsed teatrimärgid. Antonin Artaud’ „julmuse teatri“ idee mõjul kalduvad Nastavševsi lavastused tekitama vaatajas füüsilisi aistinguid – kasutatud lavametafoorid on niivõrd pingsad ja mõnikord naturalistlikud, et publik ei taju etendust mitte ainult emotsionaalselt või ratsionaalselt, vaid ka psühhofüüsiliselt (näiteks võib tekkida tugevaid reaktsioone nagu hirm või vastikustunne). Vaatajate tõeline elav reaktsioon muutub enamasti Nastavševi etenduste oluliseks osaks, luues lava ja publiku vahel sideme ja hägustades teatri ning elu vahelist piiri. Neljandaks, vastavalt postdramaatilise teatri ideele, mille tõi sisse saksa teatriteadlane Hans Thies-Lehmann, kasutab Nastavševs keeruliste lavametafooride ülesehitamiseks tihti näitleja keha, luues sellega füüsilisuse esteetikat. See tähendab, et toimub nihe dramaatilistelt (tekstipõhistelt) teatrivormidelt, kus tähendust (rolli) kannab näitleja postdramaatilise märgisüsteemi poole, kus näitleja keha pole lavale toodud etenduse iseseisva elemendina. Elu ja teatri, näitlejate ja lavastaja, lava ja publiku vaheliste piiride hägustumise teema on muutunud üheks Nastavševsi lavastuste juhtmotiiviks, mida on võimalik näidata kolmest peamisest aspektist. Esimene aspekt: oma lavastustes mängib Vladislavs Nastavševs ettekavatsetult ideega elust kui teatrist ja teatrist kui elust. Kõik tema uusimad lavastused põhinevad printsiibil „teater teatris“ ehk „metateater“, kus näitlejad mängivad tegelasi, kes käituvad ka oma elus nagu näitlejad. Valides lavastamiseks vene nn hõbedase ajajärgu modernistide teoseid (näiteks Mihhail Kuzmini romaan „Rändurid merel ja maal“ – esimene osa Riia Uues Teatris (2014), teine osa Daile Teatris (2016)), kujutab lavastaja seda vene kultuuri üht kunstirohkeimat perioodi tegevuspaigana, kus teatraalsus polnud ainult kunstniku loominguline väljendusvahend, vaid ka tema elulaad. Teine aspekt: oma lavastustes käsitleb Nastavševs teatristrateegiana enesepeegeldust ise oma lavastustes kohal olles. Suurema osa lavastuste puhul on ta totaalne autor (lavastaja, lava- ja kostüümikunstnik, helilooja, koreograaf, mõnikord ka näitleja) ning näiteks „Lootuse järve“ („Cerī bu ezers“ 2015, Riia Uus Teater) puhul ka lavastuse peategelane, luues sel viisil autobiograafilise lavateose. Kolmas aspekt: ühes oma kõige silmapaistvamas lavastuses, Federico Garcia Lorca „Verepulmas“ (2016, Läti Rahvusteater), uurib Nastavševs elu ja teatri vahelisi piire, muutes tavalist ruumilist tegevuspaika. Ta asetab vaatajad lavale, kust avaneb täisvaade kogu publikualale, ja kasutab kõiki nähtaval olevaid ruumipindu saalipõrandast kuni teise rõduni. Lavaline tegevus on üles ehitatud nii täpselt, et see mõjutab vaatajaid kõikvõimalikel tasanditel nii intellektuaalselt, emotsionaalselt kui psühhofüüsiliselt, võimaldades nii hägustada lava ja publiku vahelisi piire. Artiklis mainitud suundumused lubavad asetada Vladislavs Nastavševsi lavastajatöö nüüdisaegse Euroopa teatri raamistikku.

The curtain rose. The howling of desert wind filled the performance hall in the Shanghai Grand Theatre. Into the center stage, where a scenic construction of a mountain cliff and a desert landscape was dimly lit, entered the character of the Daoist priest Wang Yuanlu (1849–1931), performed by Chen Yizong. Dressed in a worn and dusty outfit of dark blue cotton, characteristic of Daoist priests, Wang began to sweep the floor. After a few moments, he discovered a hidden chambre sealed inside one of the rock sanctuaries carved into the cliff.Signaled by the quick, crystalline, stirring wave of sound from the chimes, a melodious Chinese ocarina solo joined in slowly from the background. Astonished by thousands of Buddhist sūtra scrolls, wall paintings, and sculptures he had just accidentally discovered in the caves, Priest Wang set his broom aside and began to examine these treasures. Dawn had not yet arrived, and the desert sky was pitch-black. Priest Wang held his oil lamp high, strode rhythmically in excitement, sat crossed-legged in a meditative pose, and unfolded a scroll. The sound of the ocarina became fuller and richer and the texture of the music more complex, as several other instruments joined in.Below is the opening scene of the award-winning, theatrical dance-drama Dunhuang, My Dreamland, created by China’s state-sponsored Lanzhou Song and Dance Theatre in 2000. Figure 1a: Poster Side A of Dunhuang, My Dreamland Figure 1b: Poster Side B of Dunhuang, My DreamlandThe scene locates the dance-drama in the rock sanctuaries that today are known as the Dunhuang Mogao Caves, housing Buddhist art accumulated over a period of a thousand years, one of the best well-known UNESCO heritages on the Silk Road. Historically a frontier metropolis, Dunhuang was a strategic site along the Silk Road in northwestern China, a crossroads of trade, and a locus for religious, cultural, and intellectual influences since the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.). Travellers, especially Buddhist monks from India and central Asia, passing through Dunhuang on their way to Chang’an (present day Xi’an), China’s ancient capital, would stop to meditate in the Mogao Caves and consult manuscripts in the monastery's library. At the same time, Chinese pilgrims would travel by foot from China through central Asia to Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, playing a key role in the exchanges between ancient China and the outside world. Travellers from China would stop to acquire provisions at Dunhuang before crossing the Gobi Desert to continue on their long journey abroad. Figure 2: Dunhuang Mogao CavesThis article approaches the idea of “abroad” by examining the present-day imagination of journeys along the Silk Road—specifically, staged performances of the various Silk Road journey-themed dance-dramas sponsored by the Chinese state for enhancing its cultural and foreign policies since the 1970s (Kuang).As ethnomusicologists have demonstrated, musicians, choreographers, and playwrights often utilise historical materials in their performances to construct connections between the past and the present (Bohlman; Herzfeld; Lam; Rees; Shelemay; Tuohy; Wade; Yung: Rawski; Watson). The ancient Silk Road, which linked the Mediterranean coast with central China and beyond, via oasis towns such as Samarkand, has long been associated with the concept of “journeying abroad.” Journeys to distant, foreign lands and encounters of unknown, mysterious cultures along the Silk Road have been documented in historical records, such as A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms (Faxian) and The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions (Xuanzang), and illustrated in classical literature, such as The Travels of Marco Polo (Polo) and the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West (Wu). These journeys—coming and going from multiple directions and to different destinations—have inspired contemporary staged performance for audiences around the globe.Home and Abroad: Dunhuang and the Silk RoadDunhuang, My Dreamland (2000), the contemporary dance-drama, staged the journey of a young pilgrim painter travelling from Chang’an to a land of the unfamiliar and beyond borders, in search for the arts that have inspired him. Figure 3: A scene from Dunhuang, My Dreamland showing the young pilgrim painter in the Gobi Desert on the ancient Silk RoadFar from his home, he ended his journey in Dunhuang, historically considered the northwestern periphery of China, well beyond Yangguan and Yumenguan, the bordering passes that separate China and foreign lands. Later scenes in Dunhuang, My Dreamland, portrayed through multiethnic music and dances, the dynamic interactions among merchants, cultural and religious envoys, warriors, and politicians that were making their own journey from abroad to China. The theatrical dance-drama presents a historically inspired, re-imagined vision of both “home” and “abroad” to its audiences as they watch the young painter travel along the Silk Road, across the Gobi Desert, arriving at his own ideal, artistic “homeland”, the Dunhuang Mogao Caves. Since his journey is ultimately a spiritual one, the conceptualisation of travelling “abroad” could also be perceived as “a journey home.”Staged more than four hundred times since it premiered in Beijing in April 2000, Dunhuang, My Dreamland is one of the top ten titles in China’s National Stage Project and one of the most successful theatrical dance-dramas ever produced in China. With revenue of more than thirty million renminbi (RMB), it ranks as the most profitable theatrical dance-drama ever produced in China, with a preproduction cost of six million RMB. The production team receives financial support from China’s Ministry of Culture for its “distinctive ethnic features,” and its “aim to promote traditional Chinese culture,” according to Xu Rong, an official in the Cultural Industry Department of the Ministry. Labeled an outstanding dance-drama of the Chinese nation, it aims to present domestic and international audiences with a vision of China as a historically multifaceted and cosmopolitan nation that has been in close contact with the outside world through the ancient Silk Road. Its production company has been on tour in selected cities throughout China and in countries abroad, including Austria, Spain, and France, literarily making the young pilgrim painter’s “journey along the Silk Road” a new journey abroad, off stage and in reality.Dunhuang, My Dreamland was not the first, nor is it the last, staged performances that portrays the Chinese re-imagination of “journeying abroad” along the ancient Silk Road. It was created as one of many versions of Dunhuang bihua yuewu, a genre of music, dance, and dramatic performances created in the early twentieth century and based primarily on artifacts excavated from the Mogao Caves (Kuang). “The Mogao Caves are the greatest repository of early Chinese art,” states Mimi Gates, who works to increase public awareness of the UNESCO site and raise funds toward its conservation. “Located on the Chinese end of the Silk Road, it also is the place where many cultures of the world intersected with one another, so you have Greek and Roman, Persian and Middle Eastern, Indian and Chinese cultures, all interacting. Given the nature of our world today, it is all very relevant” (Pollack). As an expressive art form, this genre has been thriving since the late 1970s contributing to the global imagination of China’s “Silk Road journeys abroad” long before Dunhuang, My Dreamland achieved its domestic and international fame. For instance, in 2004, The Thousand-Handed and Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara—one of the most representative (and well-known) Dunhuang bihua yuewu programs—was staged as a part of the cultural program during the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. This performance, as well as other Dunhuang bihua yuewu dance programs was the perfect embodiment of a foreign religion that arrived in China from abroad and became Sinicized (Kuang). Figure 4: Mural from Dunhuang Mogao Cave No. 45A Brief History of Staging the Silk Road JourneysThe staging of the Silk Road journeys abroad began in the late 1970s. Historically, the Silk Road signifies a multiethnic, cosmopolitan frontier, which underwent incessant conflicts between Chinese sovereigns and nomadic peoples (as well as between other groups), but was strongly imbued with the customs and institutions of central China (Duan, Mair, Shi, Sima). In the twentieth century, when China was no longer an empire, but had become what the early 20th-century reformer Liang Qichao (1873–1929) called “a nation among nations,” the long history of the Silk Road and the colourful, legendary journeys abroad became instrumental in the formation of a modern Chinese nation of unified diversity rooted in an ancient cosmopolitan past. The staged Silk Road theme dance-dramas thus participate in this formation of the Chinese imagination of “nation” and “abroad,” as they aestheticise Chinese history and geography. History and geography—aspects commonly considered constituents of a nation as well as our conceptualisations of “abroad”—are “invariably aestheticized to a certain degree” (Bakhtin 208). Diverse historical and cultural elements from along the Silk Road come together in this performance genre, which can be considered the most representative of various possible stagings of the history and culture of the Silk Road journeys.In 1979, the Chinese state officials in Gansu Province commissioned the benchmark dance-drama Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road, a spectacular theatrical dance-drama praising the pure and noble friendship which existed between the peoples of China and other countries in the Tang dynasty (618-907 C.E.). While its plot also revolves around the Dunhuang Caves and the life of a painter, staged at one of the most critical turning points in modern Chinese history, the work as a whole aims to present the state’s intention of re-establishing diplomatic ties with the outside world after the Cultural Revolution. Unlike Dunhuang, My Dreamland, it presents a nation’s journey abroad and home. To accomplish this goal, Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road introduces the fictional character Yunus, a wealthy Persian merchant who provides the audiences a vision of the historical figure of Peroz III, the last Sassanian prince, who after the Arab conquest of Iran in 651 C.E., found refuge in China. By incorporating scenes of ethnic and folk dances, the drama then stages the journey of painter Zhang’s daughter Yingniang to Persia (present-day Iran) and later, Yunus’s journey abroad to the Tang dynasty imperial court as the Persian Empire’s envoy.Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road, since its debut at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on the first of October 1979 and shortly after at the Theatre La Scala in Milan, has been staged in more than twenty countries and districts, including France, Italy, Japan, Thailand, Russia, Latvia, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and recently, in 2013, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York.“The Road”: Staging the Journey TodayWithin the contemporary context of global interdependencies, performing arts have been used as strategic devices for social mobilisation and as a means to represent and perform modern national histories and foreign policies (Davis, Rees, Tian, Tuohy, Wong, David Y. H. Wu). The Silk Road has been chosen as the basis for these state-sponsored, extravagantly produced, and internationally staged contemporary dance programs. In 2008, the welcoming ceremony and artistic presentation at the Olympic Games in Beijing featured twenty apsara dancers and a Dunhuang bihua yuewu dancer with long ribbons, whose body was suspended in mid-air on a rectangular LED extension held by hundreds of performers; on the giant LED screen was a depiction of the ancient Silk Road.In March 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping introduced the initiatives “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” during his journeys abroad in Kazakhstan and Indonesia. These initiatives are now referred to as “One Belt, One Road.” The State Council lists in details the policies and implementation plans for this initiative on its official web page, www.gov.cn. In April 2013, the China Institute in New York launched a yearlong celebration, starting with "Dunhuang: Buddhist Art and the Gateway of the Silk Road" with a re-creation of one of the caves and a selection of artifacts from the site. In March 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planning agency, released a new action plan outlining key details of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. Xi Jinping has made the program a centrepiece of both his foreign and domestic economic policies. One of the central economic strategies is to promote cultural industry that could enhance trades along the Silk Road.Encouraged by the “One Belt, One Road” policies, in March 2016, The Silk Princess premiered in Xi’an and was staged at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing the following July. While Dunhuang, My Dreamland and Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road were inspired by the Buddhist art found in Dunhuang, The Silk Princess, based on a story about a princess bringing silk and silkworm-breeding skills to the western regions of China in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) has a different historical origin. The princess's story was portrayed in a woodblock from the Tang Dynasty discovered by Sir Marc Aurel Stein, a British archaeologist during his expedition to Xinjiang (now Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region) in the early 19th century, and in a temple mural discovered during a 2002 Chinese-Japanese expedition in the Dandanwulike region. Figure 5: Poster of The Silk PrincessIn January 2016, the Shannxi Provincial Song and Dance Troupe staged The Silk Road, a new theatrical dance-drama. Unlike Dunhuang, My Dreamland, the newly staged dance-drama “centers around the ‘road’ and the deepening relationship merchants and travellers developed with it as they traveled along its course,” said Director Yang Wei during an interview with the author. According to her, the show uses seven archetypes—a traveler, a guard, a messenger, and so on—to present the stories that took place along this historic route. Unbounded by specific space or time, each of these archetypes embodies the foreign-travel experience of a different group of individuals, in a manner that may well be related to the social actors of globalised culture and of transnationalism today. Figure 6: Poster of The Silk RoadConclusionAs seen in Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road and Dunhuang, My Dreamland, staging the processes of Silk Road journeys has become a way of connecting the Chinese imagination of “home” with the Chinese imagination of “abroad.” Staging a nation’s heritage abroad on contemporary stages invites a new imagination of homeland, borders, and transnationalism. Once aestheticised through staged performances, such as that of the Dunhuang bihua yuewu, the historical and topological landscape of Dunhuang becomes a performed narrative, embodying the national heritage.The staging of Silk Road journeys continues, and is being developed into various forms, from theatrical dance-drama to digital exhibitions such as the Smithsonian’s Pure Land: Inside the Mogao Grottes at Dunhuang (Stromberg) and the Getty’s Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China's Silk Road (Sivak and Hood). 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