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Photo: by Andy Colwell of Virsky Ukraine Dance Company in 2009, USA Tour.
So you think you can dance, eh?
Following their Vancouver appearance, Janet Smith in her Straight.com article, the Appeal of Ukraine's Virsky dance troupe transcends ethnic pride , has this to report about their show:
Virsky, the 73-year-old troupe from Ukraine, performs with technique to rival a lot of national ballet companies—only with red boots instead of pink slippers.
Long before hip-hop battles—as in millennia before—there was Ukrainian dance, an adrenaline-fuelled, acrobatic form with backward flips, kicking spins, and a sense of one-upmanship to rival any breaker circle.
Elsewhere:
“We all look up to Virsky because they are the top in the world. There is no one better. They’ve travelled all over the world and to see them is like seeing Riverdance,” raves Ken Kaskmar, a Canadian-Ukrainian who’s performed the dance of his heritage for 30 years, has studied with Virsky artistic director Myroslav Vantukh, and has seen the troupe many times.”
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Photo: Virsky Ukrainian National Dance Company performs Hopak, Wikipedia
On Friday, October 22, I was privileged to see Virsky’s show with my 6 year old son in my new home town of Winnipeg. The Virsky National Dance Company opened with “Ukraine, My Ukraine!” - a traditional greeting dance offering bread and salt to the audience kindly inviting them to sample the diversity of folk dance flavors each region of Ukraine has to offer. It then delivered on that promise with one riveting performance after another. There was the Zaporizhian Cossacks light-hearted jaunt with its inexhaustable bag of impressive tricks in the “Povzunets”. This was followed by the colorful competitive dance amongst the Bess Arabian gypsies in the “Gypsy Dance”. Wonderfully choreographed duets, and trios were presented in “Podolianochka (Girl from the Podillia Region)” and other numbers. Lyrical grace and plasticity of movement was vividly demonstrated in “Verbychen’ka (Little Willow) and “Kozachok” performed by the female dancers of the company. Hutsul’ian, Bukovynian, and Volynian, amongst other Carpathian region mountain folk were colorfully and dynamically represented in the dances “Volyn Patterns” and “The Carpathians.” You had to enjoy the beats and rhythms of the “Dance with Tambourines” and the comical “Kyiv Fellows” number where tall male dancers compete with the shrewd and vigorous “vertically challenged” fellow dancers. The National Ukrainian Cossack Dance of the “Zaporozhtsi” in which they mimic warfare rituals involving a herculean spear drill and sword fight under watchful eye of their “Hetman” or military commander was especially mesmerizing. The pride and hope of Ukraine’s Black Sea Fleet was superbly executed in a captivating dance called “Moriaky” (Sailors). The “Chumack’s Joy” is a dance about four chumaks or travellers on their way to buy salt and who could afford to buy only one pair of boots between them. They decided whomever they fit, will own the boots. What ensued – you had to see for yourself. We could not stop laughing. However, it was the “Hopak” that brought the audience to its feet screaming for more. This Ukrainian folk dance originated with the Zaporizhian Cossacks in southern Ukraine, but is now performed by both female and male dancers from the Central Ukraine. The dance opens with quick graceful movements hurrying to get your attention, and maintains your attention with fast and furious pattern making and superbly choreographed configurations and then sustains your attention with continuous elements of surprise that take your breath away near the finale. Female dancers sway, clap, twirl or spin like bobbins across the stage while the male soloists leap into the air to skillfully execute a host of breathtaking acrobatic movements or amazing footwork while sitting on the heels of their boots.
“Fugit inreparabile tempus” wrote the Roman poet Virgil in the Aeneid, and so the time flew never to return as the final curtain closed down upon us to a standing ovation. One more outstanding performance by Virsky and yet another experience shared by son with dad.
Author Information:
Ihor Cap is a web author at http://articlesandblogs.ezreklama.com .
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