Staff report
ASHLAND — Vivid colors and a spectacle of motion and culture are trademarks of the VIrsky Ukrainian National Dance Company, which will bring its show to the Paramount Arts Center next month.
The group of 85 folk dancers has traveled the world, sharing the Ukrainian culture through dance.
Although a folk-dancing group, the ensemble formed in 1937 under two ballet masters — Pavlo Virsky and Mykola Bolotov.
Virsky’s choreographic compositions grew from folk dancing combined with his skills and include artistic works such as “We’re from Ukraine” and “The Sailors” to humorous pieces such as “The Stepp Wagoner’s Delight Under the Cherry Tree” to sad and moving pieces such as “A Girl from Podillya” and “The Weeping Willow.”
From 1955 to 1975, Virsky headed the ensemble, and under his guidance the ensemble matured into a highly professional dance company whose art has won the hearts of countlesss reviewers and the general public around the world.
Myroslav Vantukh, Virsky’s disciple and great expert in folk traditions and ethnography, has been in charge of the ensemble since 1980 with the objective of preservation and development of folk choreographic art.
In 1962, Virsky created a children’s two-year choreographic studio. In 1992, it was turned by Vantukh into a choreographic school for children, and later it became a source of talented young performers for the ensemble.
The ensemble has toured many different lands quite far from its native Ukraine. Among the viewers who have welcomed the leading company have been people of Austria, England, Argentina, Bulgaria, Brazil. Belgium. Venezuela, Greece, Ecuador, Italy, India, Spain, Canada, Columbia, China, Cuba, Korea, Mexico, Mongolia, Germany, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, the United States of America, Hungary, France, France, Czech Republic, Chile and Switzerland.
