VMU Folk-dance ensemble “Žilvitis”

Under the leadership of long-time collective director Danutė Petrauskaitė, “Žilvitis”received the highest creative award at the first Lithuanian Youth Folk Dance Ensemble Competition “Kadagys” in 1995, and in 1999 was awarded the first “Aukso paukštė” – the country’s highest accolade for amateur art collectives.

The ensemble, which has been performing for more than a decade, has not only performed in Lithuania but has also visited Italy, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Greece, Great Britain, Poland, Germany, India, and Canada, participates in festivals in Latvia every year, and in 2022 visited the United States of America, where it took part in the Sixteenth North American Lithuanian Folk Dance Festival in Philadelphia.

In Lithuania, “Žilvitis” participates in the World Lithuanians’ Song Celebration, the Baltic Student Song and Dance Celebration “Gaudeamus”, the Kaunas City Song Celebration, the Kaunas Higher School Folk Dance Collective Festival “Ei, studente, sukis vėju”, and produces original programs.