Ruslana’s Wild Dancing Wows All Ages Alike

By Marichka Galadza

When a Ukrainian deputy, who also happens to be a singer, performer, and winner of the Eurovision song contest, comes to perform in one of the world’s largest Ukrainian diaspora communities, you know there will be a huge supportive  crowd. On December 9, grandparents, baby-boomers, children and teens came out to watch Ruslana, one of Ukraine’s leading pop icons give a concert at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

In 2004, Ruslana launched Ukraine’s tailspin into the media with her song “Dyki Tantsi” or “Wild Dances”. The first major Ukrainian pop star to be internationally recognized, Ruslana was a lucky starlet of sorts, kicking off the media hype of the Orange Revolution and Ukraine’s placement in the 2006, FIFA World Cup. In many ways, Ruslana’s popularity put Ukraine on the map and Toronto’s Ukrainian Canadian community came out in great numbers to witness her only concert in the city this year.

The first song performed was an English version of the infamous “Dyki Tansi” or “Wild Dances.” Dressed in scantier variations of traditional Hutzul and Norse-inspired costumes, Ruslana and her dancers stormed the stage with palpable energy. With a decidedly sexier image, Ruslana pulled out all the stops you would expect from a big- name performer. The stage featured three drum sets and a video monitor that intermittently showed her music videos and volts of lightning flashing across the screen. Between the gyrating dancers and the beat driven music, the stage was ablaze with “Wild Energy”- which is both the singer’s credo and the name of her latest CD.

The concert, which lasted about two hours, featured singles from Ruslana’s previous album “Dyki Tantsi,” some a cappella Ukrainian Christmas carols and a “kolomajka” of folk songs that the crowd was encouraged to sing along with.

The concert was uplifting and spirited and the live performance definitely proved Ruslana’s vocal talents. Her charisma and stage presence also added an intimate element to the concert. While the songs were mostly in English, Ruslana spoke only in Ukrainian and was an instant crowd-pleaser, telling anecdotes of when she was a little girl in the village and asking the audience if there were any hostyny or after-parties she could be invited to.

However, the venue proved a little stifling for the dance music. The theatre, which is fitted with rowed seats, was too formal of a setting for the “Wild Energy” and celebratory mood that the concert created. At points in the night, Ruslana encouraged the audience to feel the music and get up and dance, but either because of the set-up or the age of the crowd, people were hesitant to do so. Either way, there was enough of a party atmosphere on stage to make up for the initial inhibition of the crowd. After Ruslana’s second costume change­– into a diamond-dazzled loin cloth and white fur cape–she candidly confessed to the crowd that she had danced so hard, the strap of her top had torn. Judging from the crowd’s response, it only made the audience love her more. 

At the end of the night, Ruslana bade us all farewell with words of nationalistic pride and wishes of “wild” joy in our lives. She received a total of three standing ovations and performed two encore performances, after which she was greeted with flowers by Ruslana Wrzesnewskyj, of Help Us Help the Children, and Rostyslav Kisil, of Meest Corporation, a major sponsor of the evening. Other sponsors were Buduchnist Credit Union and Aerosvit Ukrainian Airlines.

Despite the packed venue, which held around 1,500 people, the concert had an intimate feel, and the diversity in age of the audience proved that this pop star has mass appeal.