Hromovytsia dancers' debut in Kyiv kick offs concert tour of Ukraine

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Just as their name implies, Hromovytsia, an enthusiastic group of young Ukrainian American dancers from Chicago, took the Kyiv State Operetta Theater by storm on July 14 in their first concert in Ukraine.

Kyivans jammed the hall to overflowing to see 41 young Americans with Ukrainian roots age 15-35 celebrate Ukrainian culture with traditional folk songs and dance.

Their appearance in the Ukrainian capital city was Hromovytsia's first stop in a tour that will also take them to five western Ukrainian cities, including Lviv, Ternopil, Kalush, Kolomyia and Uzhhorod.

Noting the lack of attention the Kyiv government continues to pay to stimulating and lifting Ukrainian culture, Zoya Popova, director of the Department of Ukrainian Diaspora at the Ministry of Culture, said during a press conference prior to the dance ensemble's first appearance that she hoped the tour would become a cultural stimulus for Ukraine.

"Let's hope that the arrival of Hromovytsia becomes the thunderstorm that stirs the matter of culture in Ukraine," said Ms. Popov.

The group's choreographer, Roxana Dykyj-Pylypczak, said that she sees her ensemble as more than just a way for kids to learn Ukrainian dance; it is also a way of helping them to embrace their historic homeland and all that it stands for.

"I have had a special feeling for this since I was young, when I first saw the Virsky Dance Ensemble," explained Mrs. Dykyj-Pylypczak. "I was backstage afterwards and saw the performers. You can't understand the feeling I felt seeing for the first time the men with their swords and 'zhupany,' and the women in costume. I felt that, yes, this was the affirmation of our unique Ukrainian culture. It makes no difference - Chicago, America, Ukraine - we are all Ukrainians."

Mrs. Dykyj-Pylypczak emphasized that most of the more than 50 dancers she coaches are third- or even fourth-generation Ukrainian Americans, and even so all speak at least some Ukrainian. She also noted that a number of them had begun dancing at age 3 or 4.

Among the reporters at the press conference, several bemoaned the fact that the ensemble had not scheduled eastern Ukrainian cities and the "Russified Kozak territories" of southern Ukraine on this tour. They noted that it was there the Ukrainian culture most needs tending and even re-planting in some places.

Yurii Cepynsky of Chicago, who acted as master of ceremonies for the concerts, said he recognizes a need to go east and that while perhaps scheduling mistakes had been made they were not intentional.

"This is our first time here - we are learning, but we intend to come back," explained Mr. Cepynsky.

The ensemble's concert tour concludes on July 24 in Uzhhorod.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 27, 2003, No. 30, Vol. LXXI

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