A Ukrainian Summer: where to go, what to do...

Yara Arts Group invites one and all to join in Kupalo midsummer festival

by Virlana Tkacz

NEW YORK - Yara Arts Group will present "Ivana Kupala": Pagan Slavic Midsummer Night Festivities in New York this June.

Preparations will start in mid-June with workshops in Ukrainian folk singing with Mariana Sadovska. The participants will discover their own folk voice and learn ancient Kupalo songs. You do not have to be able to read Ukrainian or music to participate.

An indoor concert, "Midsummer Night Music and Images," will feature Ms. Sadovska, Yara and Nova Nomada artists. Saturdays, June 22 and 29, will witness another "Old Kupalo Freakout" - a series of outdoor events in the Community Garden in New York with traditional rituals and songs, as well as a healthy dose of anarchy and ethno-avant-garde art.

Reviewing the 2001 event, Kristina Lucenko wrote: "The Community Garden was the perfect environment, with its crowded, lush plots of flowers and vegetables spilling over onto narrow crooked paths." Members of Yara were tucked into the garden's many hidden corners: some read short stories by Hohol (Gogol), while others sang traditional Kupalo melodies and did water incantation.

"I've always loved the mystery of Kupalo," said Virlana Tkacz, the organizer of the event. "These rituals connect us to a past that is almost forgotten. But what a visceral connection - what drama! - fire and water. And for an instant an ancient ritual is alive in us."

The public is invited to help Yara create these celebrations by singing, dancing, generating ideas and organizing these events. Volunteers should contact the Yara Arts Group, 306 E. 11th St. No. 3B, New York, NY 10003; (212) 475-6474; or www.brama.com/yara/.

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Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, May 5, 2002, No. 18, Vol. LXX

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