Gallery: First Tartu Dance Festival field rehearsal held in the rain

With performance day on June 16 approaching, field rehearsals for the upcoming Tartu Dance Festival kicked off this week, with several hundred Estonian folk dancers braving the rain on Monday to prepare.
More than 2,000 folk dancers will perform in the 2024 Tartu Song and Dance Festival next weekend. This Monday, B-groups with their nearly 400 dancers convened at University of Tartu Stadium for the festival's first field rehearsal, according to a press release.
While thunderstorms delayed the start of the rehearsal, once the threat of lighting passed, the dancers took the field anyway, some in raincoats or rain ponchos.
The B-groups rehearsed "Kadrel 1," choreographed and directed by Aveli Asber, and "Kagu-Eesti tantsud" ("Southeastern Estonian dances"), choreographed by Maie Orav and directed by Aveli Asber.
Dance diagrams were marked on the field with tacks, and the dancers got their first chance to rehearse them together on grass.
"You can see in the dancers' faces just how much they're looking forward to the Tartu festival and enjoy dancing," Tartu Dance Festival artistic director Kristel Maruste said, describing the atmosphere at Monday's rehearsal.
Dance festival category-level rehearsals continue this week and next. At the same time, Tartu Snow Park, the converted Raadi gravel quarry serving as the venue for Tartu Dance Festival, is buzzing with work as all of the infrastructure needed for the event is rapidly being built. The audience grandstands are already in place; now work is underway to get everything else finished in time.
Next Friday, June 14, all 2,300 dancers will meet on site at Tartu Snow Park to rehearse together ahead of the Dance Festival performances that Sunday, June 16.
The 2024 Tartu Song and Dance Festival will be held from June 16-22.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Aili Vahtla