Rusalka to Cross the Sea

By Olena Wawryshyn

Last winter Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble dancers, many of them university students or young professionals, had a grueling schedule. In addition to keeping up with their studies or demands of work, they attended dance practices up to five days a week. They were preparing for the world premiere of the company’s production of The Legend of the Rusalka, which took place on March 19 in Winnipeg.

Now, though summer holidays have started, the dancers won’t be relaxing anytime soon as the company is gearing up for its European premiere of The Legend of the Rusalka this August. “We are going to be the showcase group at the Aberdeen International Youth Festival, representing Canada,” says Hannia Tarasiuk, the Chair of the company’s 13-member board of directors.

Close to 50 Rusalka dancers will be travelling to Scotland for the festival, which brings together youth-based arts groups from around the world.  Over the years, Rusalka has performed in many locations abroad, including Mexico, London, England, Italy, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong and Ukraine.

Rusalka was founded by Peter Hladun, who, in the fall of 1962, formed the company by picking the best dancers from the Ukrainian National Federation School of Dance. Since then, renowned choreographers, such as Roma Pryma-Bochachevsky and Roman Strockij of New York and Olha Dvorovenko and Petro Nebrosky from the Veryovka Dance Ensemble, have worked with  Rusalka on various repertoire.

With Rusalka’s latest production, “We’ve really pushed the envelope with our dancers,” says Tarasiuk. “It’s not just Ukrainian dancing. It’s a folk ballet as well.”

At the Winnipeg premiere, Rusalka was accompanied by 67 members of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO).  Since travelling with a full orchestra poses financial and logistical hurdles, at the Aberdeen festival, Rusalka will be dancing to the The Legend of the Rusalka CD, recorded by the WSO.

The score was written by Volodymyr Hronsky, who composed the music for the Ukrainian movie Neskoranyi (The Undefeated). “The Rusalka music has some traditional pieces in it, adapted by Hronsky, but a lot of it is his original composition,” says Tarasiuk.

Tarasiuk and the other members of Rusalka’s board were introduced to Hronsky by choreographers Anna and Vasyl Kanevets. They are a Ukrainian-born, Edmonton-based couple who are both graduates of the Kyiv University of Culture. Anna moved to Winnipeg for a year to work with Rusalka in the run-up to the staging of The Legend of the Rusalka, while Vasyl flew in from time to time for practices.

The pair were choreographing some dance pieces for Rusalka about four years ago. At the time, the board had already started talking about staging a folk-ballet based on their namesake, the Rusalka, the mischievous mermaid of Ukrainian folk tales who annually emerges from her underwater world in a quest to find true love. “The dancers loved working with them,” says Tarasiuk, so the board asked them to choreograph for the folk ballet.

American-born Theodore Kuchar, currently music director of the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra and previously principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, was brought on board as special guest conductor for the Winnipeg shows.

Other equally distinguished professionals rounded out the production team.  Brian Perchaluk, who regularly works with major arts groups such as the Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB), designed the sets. Several individuals worked on the elaborate costumes, which were created by a RWB designer and sewn by Rusalka’s Donna Talbot as well as by seamstresses in Lviv.

“To put on a production of this magnitude is a huge endeavour,” says Tarasiuk.  The board she heads is consists of volunteers who devote countless hours to the administrative, artistic and managerial matters.

The board has had a number of requests to stage The Legend of the Rusalka in Eastern and Western Canada but whether this becomes a reality depends on the availability of financial sponsorships and the dancers' time.

In the meantime, the company is conducting educational sessions at Winnipeg-area Ukrainian-English bilingual classes. “The dancers talk to the students about their part-time careers as dancers and what it’s like to put a show together,” says Tarasiuk.

In addition, the company is planning to produce a children’s storybook about The Legend of the Rusalka, with versions in Ukrainian and English.