Two special tributes to an extraordinary dance teacher (09/05/04)

Two special tributes to an extraordinary dance teacher

by Helen Smindak

NEW YORK - Scores of Ukrainian dancers from the United States and Canada will converge on Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall on November 13 to mark the illustrious 40-year history of the School of Ballet and Ukrainian Folk Dance founded by teacher/choreographer Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky. They'll be observing the anniversary in the way they know best, with Ukrainian folk dancing - either performing, helping out backstage, or in the audience, applauding and tapping their toes in time to the rhythms on stage.

The concert, in preparation for almost a year, will also be a heartfelt memorial to their beloved "Pani Roma," their teacher, choreographer and mentor, who passed away in May after a serious illness.

Members and alumni of the New York-based Syzokryli Ukrainian Dancers will make up the major part of the dance roster, with dancers from Ms. Pryma-Bohachevsky's schools in New York and Whippany, N.J., strutting their stuff in a couple of numbers.

The two-hour Lincoln Center program, set for 8 p.m., will showcase regional Ukrainian folk dances and works choreographed by Ms. Pryma-Bohachevsky, such as "Ikona," an eloquent piece dedicated to the Millennium of Christianity in Ukraine, to be performed on this occasion by dance alumni.

Designed by Ms. Pryma-Bohachevsky and artistic director Andriy Cybyk, the program will also include the Syzokryli ensemble's traditional "Pryvit" (Welcome) and its rousing Hopak dance, the "Ivasiuk Suite," which she choreographed to the music of the late composer Volodymyr Ivasiuk, and what planners describe as "a very large Hutsul suite." The New York school will contribute more Hutsul dances, while the Whippany school will trot out a Transcarpathian number choreographed by Ms. Bohachevsky's son, Boris.

Singer Olya Chodoba-Fryz will appear as guest artist, providing original Ivasiuk compositions as accompaniment for the "Ivasiuk Suite," and will serve as mistress of ceremonies.

In another, separate tribute to the dance diva that takes place on Sunday, September 12, the Syzokryli ensemble will make a guest appearance at a gala Waldorf Astoria luncheon hosted by the Ukrainian Institute of America. The group's performance will include the Hopak dance and a special tribute choreographed by Boris Bohachevsky.

The event will include the bestowal of the Ukrainian Institute's first Lifetime Achievement Award. The luncheon is slated for 1 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the world-famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel and will have Lydia Kulbida, news anchor for WNYT Television in Albany, as mistress of ceremonies. Marta Zielyk, senior diplomatic interpreter with the State Department, will offer reminiscences of early dance classes and participation in Pani Roma's original "Popeliushka" ballet.

Luncheon chairwoman Stephanie Dobriansky, whose committee consists of Roma Kekish Hrechynsky, Ulana Kekish, Oksana Kinal and Olya Rudyk, says that New York Gov. George Pataki has issued a proclamation in honor of Ms. Pryma-Bohachevsky, and letters of commendation have come in from New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey and several Ukrainian religious leaders.

Principals and speakers at both events are expected to laud the talents, dedication and gracious, smiling demeanor of a Ukrainian woman who began to study dance at the age of 3, became a member of the corps de ballet of the Lviv State Opera Company at 13 and the company's youngest soloist a year later. She went on to become prima ballerina at the State Opera House in Innsbruck, Austria. She toured Europe extensively, then moved to Canada and became a guest artist with the Winnipeg Royal Bullet and later with the Ruth Sorell Dance Company in Montreal.

Solo appearances brought her to New York City and led to studies with such leading dance exponents as Martha Graham and Agnes DeMille. During an international tour that took her to Europe, the United States, Canada and Central America, her program of Ukrainian dances in varying styles, all based on Ukrainian themes, drew audience acclaim.

In 1961, deciding to dedicate all her energy and taken to teaching Ukrainian dance, she opened her School of Ballet and Ukrainian Folk Dance in New York. Ten years later she founded the Syzokryli Ukrainian Dancers and began to teach a Ukrainian dance camp and workshop at the Verkhovyna resort in Glen Spey, N.Y., with John Taras of the American Ballet Theater and Valentina Pereyashavets of the Kyiv Theater of Opera and Ballet among the guest teachers. A dance workshop at Soyuzivka in Kerhonkson, N.Y., and dance groups in Bridgeport, Conn.; Albany, Hempstead and Astoria, N.Y.; and the New Jersey communities of Whippany, Newark, Passaic and Perth Amboy were added later.

Undaunted by the demands of travel and exhausting rehearsal schedules, Ms. Pryma-Bohachevsky considered her greatest achievement to be teaching Ukrainian young people from the United States and Canada the art of dance and training students in various techniques so that Ukrainian folk dance in a stylized form could be shown to the public on the highest possible artistic level.

Of the thousands of students who graduated from her classes, several have become successful professional dancers, among them Roma Sosenko, formerly of the New York City Ballet and now ballet mistress for the Miami Ballet; Orlando Pagan, a member of the Dance Theater of Harlem; Markian Kopystianskyj of the Atlanta Ballet; and Roksolana Babiuk, who performs with the H.T. Chen Company. Mr. Cybyk, a former dancer and choreographer with the Duquesne University Tamburitzans, has toured extensively with the Allnations Dance Company and other dance groups.

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