03/08/2020
The dedication of Riga International Airport created last August to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Baltic Way “Gatves Deja on the Airport Runway” has won the prestigious International Public Relations Association (IPRA) industry excellence competition “IPRA Golden World Awards 2020”.
The IPRA Golden World Awards is an annual communications industry excellence competition that rewards the world's best public relations projects and promoters in 37 different categories. In this year's competition, Gatves Deja dance created by Riga Airport triumphed in the category “Event Organization". Airport projects receive this prestigious award for the second year in a row – last year, the joint project of the Airport and the creative agency TBWA\Latvija “Riga Airport Symphony” also received the high award.
“Gatves Deja dance that we danced on the Airport runway in the morning of the 30th anniversary of the Baltic Way was heartfelt work of the entire airport staff, dancers and technical staff. Each and every of the thousands of spectators who watched on their screens as 100 dancers from Mārupe and Babīte municipalities danced one of our most beautiful national dances under the flags of the three Baltic States could feel it,” says Laura Kulakova, Head of the Communication Unit at Riga Airport. "The emotions we gained and gave with this dance have not disappeared today. It is impossible to forget what was said by Dainis Īvāns, leader of the National Awakening movement: “The Baltic Way was a turning point, a turning point in our hearts, we became determined, brave, we became proud. And it is why today everything in Latvia belongs to us. We can go wherever we want, there is a free Baltic sky above our heads. Today I am greeting you once again on the runway of the free state of Latvia. We are standing on the Baltic Way, we continue the Baltic Way, and we are still flying towards freedom.” I am very proud that with this project we can bring the story of freedom of Latvia into the world, a story showing that with the strength of spirit and song it is possible to overcome even the rudest power and that nothing can stop the desire for freedom.
”The Baltic Way took place on 23 August 1989, when two million inhabitants of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia joined their hands connecting the capitals of the Baltic States – Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius – with a 675.5 kilometre long human chain to commemorate the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed on 23 August 1939 between Germany and the USSR, and to support each other in the struggle for the common goal of regaining the independence of the Baltic States. This unprecedented act of non-violent resistance drew worldwide attention to the occupation of the Baltic States and became a symbol of the independence movement.
The dance was Riga Airport's dedication to Latvia on the thirtieth anniversary the Baltic Way, symbolically linking the past and the future and recalling the unity of the three Baltic States, both back then when two million people joined hands to show the world their commitment to regain freedom and today, when the Iron Curtain has long since fallen and Riga, as the central hub for air traffic, connects the Baltics with the whole world.
Latvian national dance on the runway of Riga Airport The event is a present from Riga Airport to our country in honour of the 30th anniversary of the Baltic ...