Tribute to Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky held in New York (09/26/04)

Tribute to Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky held in New York

by Helen Smindak
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

NEW YORK - In a moving tribute to an unforgettable dance personality and her remarkable legacy, the Ukrainian Institute of America bestowed its first Lifetime Achievement Award on the late Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky on Sunday, September 12.

The presentation took place at a festive luncheon in a setting ideally suited to the memory of a diva known for her gracious manners - the stately Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Park Avenue. Bouquets of deep red roses, evoking the love and respect of students and admirers for the Ukrainian community's "Pani Roma," adorned tables throughout the room.

Invocations were offered by the Rev. Andriy Kulyk of All Saints Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Rev. Bernard Panchuk of St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church.

Speakers cited Ms. Pryma-Bohachevsky for her dedication to teaching Ukrainian folk dance and transmitting her love and know-ledge of Ukrainian dance traditions to thousands of young people in the diaspora. The former prima ballerina of the Innsbruck State Opera House in Vienna, who passed away in May following a serious illness, devoted 40 years to ballet and Ukrainian dance instruction - 25 of those as director of the Syzokryli Ukrainian Dancers of New York.

As more than 400 guests looked on, UIA president Walter Nazarewicz presented a statuette of Ms. Pryma-Bohachevsky to her daughter, Ania Bohachevsky Lonkevych, and son, Boris Bohachevsky, paying tribute to a woman "who helped to preserve, promote and popularize a Ukrainian national treasure, Ukrainian folk dance, through a lifetime of extraordinary artistry, dedication and passion." The foot-high figure, the design of sculptor Taras Lewyckyj of Philadelphia, a former Pryma-Bohachevsky student who now directs Philadelphia's Voloshky Dance Ensemble, shows Ms. Pryma-Bohachevsky poised on one foot, arms akimbo, performing a Ukrainian dance that was part of her solo stage presentations. Made in Ukraine of brass-covered Ukrainian black marble, the statue was delayed in transport, arriving from Kyiv just hours before the luncheon.

Mr. Nazarewicz, who remembers seeing Ms. Pryma Bohachevsky in 1961 when she performed in New York for the first time, described her as an internationally recognized prima ballerina and beloved dance instructor for thousands of children and adults who passed through her dance schools and workshops.

"She brought an inimitable freshness and beauty to Ukrainian dance through her groundbreaking choreography of regional dances, as well as her stylized interpretations that drew upon Ukrainian dance forms, classical ballet and modern dance," she added.

"When Stefa Dobriansky approached the institute's board director Roman Czajkowsky with the idea of honoring this wonderful Ukrainian American woman, Roma Pryma, we were so pleased and we decided to sponsor an accolade for her," Mr. Nazarewicz said.

Accepting the award on behalf of their mother, Ms. Lonkevych and Mr. Bohachevsky expressed gratitude to Mr. Nazarewicz, the institute's board of directors, and event planners and participants for the great honor accorded to their mother. Mr. Bohachevsky, following his sister's Ukrainian comments with a statement in English, said their feelings were shared by their father, George Bohachevsky, who was unable to attend.

"Ania and I are committed to ensuring that mother's legacy and her work and her spirit live on," he told the assembly. "To that end, we have established the Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky Foundation of Ukrainian Dance, drawing on the talented young choreographers, teachers and dancers who have worked with her and have been inspired by Pani Roma for decades."

Facing challenges

Keynote speaker Marta Zielyk observed that "Pani Roma, my ballet teacher, taught me not only how to turn out my toes for the second classical ballet position or how to do a proper, full deep bow on stage but taught me - I realize now - about life itself."

"When I felt challenged by life's situations, I would reach back into my childhood and pull out a memory of Pani Roma: how she always stood with her back ramrod straight, her gaze level, direct and open. So I try to stand up straight and look a challenge straight in the eye," Ms. Zielyk said.

Now a senior diplomatic interpreter for the U.S. State Department, Ms. Zielyk recalled Pani Roma's poise, self-confidence, her stage presence, her radiant smile, her elegance and talent, her innate awareness of people and their abilities - qualities that touched everyone she came in contact with.

Mistress of ceremonies Lydia Zaluckyj-Kulbida, news anchor for WNYT Television in Albany, N.Y., and a former ballet student of Pani Roma, read greetings from New York Gov. George Pataki, who stated that Ms. Pryma-Bohachevsky "inspired a most important expression of national pride through her legacy of dance that will live for generations to come." She said that New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey had issued a proclamation honoring the life and memory of Ms. Pryma-Bohachevsky.

Announcing a $5,000 donation to the new Foundation for Ukrainian Dance from the Ukrainian Institute of America. Ms. Kulbida said she looked forward to seeing everyone at Alice Tully Hall on November 13, when some 120 dancers will celebrate the lifeworks of Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky through Ukrainian dance.

Two multimedia presentations, one prepared by Zenon Cybyk and the other by Ihor Lukiw and Roma Lisovich, offered a pictorial review of Ms. Pryma Bohachevsky's life, from her early years as a ballet student in Lviv, through her professional career as a strikingly beautiful performer in Europe and North America, her 40-year span of teaching that included workshops, dance camps and festival appearances for her students, her choreographic triumphs with such ballet productions as "Peer Gynt," "Kvit Paporoti" and "Ikona," and her staging of a stunning welcome dance and a glorious Hopak.

The review included her work at the Syzokryli ensemble's director, when she accompanied her group to concert halls through the United States and during a triumphant 1992 tour of Ukraine. Married in 1963 to New York City Opera baritone George Bohachevsky, she was a devoted wife and the mother of Ania and Boris, and grandmother to Ania's children, Alexander and Roma.

In a special dance tribute choreographed by Mr. Bohachevsky, a long line of costumed Syzokryli dancers assembled on the darkened state. With Ms. Lonkevych and Mr. Bohachevsky at their center, the dancers paced slowly to the melancholy strains of the Sichovi Striltsi song "Chuyesh, Brate Mii" (Do you hear, O my brother). Lighted candles in their hands delineated their movement patterns, simulating the flight of a string of cranes across the sky, but in reality expressing the connection of one human being to another - of Pani Roma as the inspiration that strung together many lives.

For the exciting Hopak dance that's always the finale of Syzokryli performances, the dancers strode on stage led by a group of stalwart males with Andriy Cybyk at their head. (For many years the ensemble's associate artistic director, Mr. Cybyk has been appointed artistic director, with Orlando Pagan serving as balletmaster and Christine Izak as artistic adviser.)

The women's twirls and pirouettes and the men's amazing prysidky leaps and squats to rapid-fire music stirred resounding applause from the audience, which included representatives from Ukraine's Mission to the United Nations and the Ukrainian Consulate in New York, Newport Music Festival director Mark Malkovich III, longtime Met Opera bass-baritone Andrij Dobriansky, and several Ukrainian community leaders.Among them were Stefan Kaczaraj, member of the board of directors of Self Reliance New York Federal Credit Union (who also is president of the Ukrainian National Association), and Roma Lisovich, treasurer of the Ukrainian National Association.

Organizing committee chair Stefa Dobriansky, who has been steering her six children through years of dance rehearsals and performances, accepted compliments from friends with a bright smile after the event, but pointed to the solid support given by coordinators Ulana Kekish, Roma Kekish Hrechynsky, Oksana Kinal and Olya Rudyk. Much credit, she emphasized should go to Mr. Nazarewicz and UIA Vice-President Yaroslav Kryshtalsky - "they were absolutely wonderful in helping to arrange this event."

| Home Page |