The CAMROSE BOOSTER, November 5, 2024 – Page 12
PEACE HILLS
BINGO
3725-56 Street (Wetaskiwin Mall) Wetaskiwin, AB | 780-352-2137 Ext.5
FUNDRAISING OPPORTUNITY
Peace Hills Bingo has room for a few clubs interested in making fundraising dollars by volunteering at Bingo in a clean, smoke-free environment. Profit ranges between $300-$500 per bingo worked. If you are not already, you must apply for a Bingo Licence from AGLC.
For more information, call 780-352-2137 Ext. 5 or email phbingo@telus.net
SONGSCAPES FROM FOLK TRADITIONS TO BROADWAY CLASSICS Presented by the vocal students of Kimerica Parr with Micah Pawluk, collaborative pianist
6 NOV
WEDNESDAY
7:00 pm Augustana Faith & Life Chapel
Admission FREE
Ukrainian dance tributes newcomers By Murray Green
Tryzub Ukrainian Dance Society will be staging the show entitled Dzvinka at the Jeanne and Peter Lougheed Performing Arts Society on November 16, at 7 p.m. This is a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Tryzub Ukrainian Dance Ensemble. Since its inception in 1973, Tryzub has stood as a beacon of artistic excellence, a symphony of spirited footwork and colourful costumes that tell
the story of Ukraine’s rich heritage. “Our commitment to new music and original choreography has emerged as a core strength and recent success, differentiating us from other cultural dance organizations, especially in the eyes of granting bodies for the arts community,” said John Stadnyk, chair of the board of directors for Tryzub. Tryzub features over an hour of new music, com-
Tryzub Ukrainian Dance Ensemble
posed and recorded in the shadows of war in Ukraine. Costumes, designed and sewn in Ukraine were shipped by van to neighbouring countries and flown to Canada. Since 2018, Tryzub has commissioned nearly two and a half hours of original Ukrainian dance music. “I want to take us back five years and share how we got here, which ultimately positioned our organization to do something really special. In 2018, Tryzub was celebrating its 45th anniversary and inspired by the tragedy of (the actual beginning of war) in Ukraine, our artistic director brought forth the idea of a production called Heroiam Slava– Glory to the Heroes, which is an emotionally gripping tale of the impact of war in Ukraine. Tryzub began the journey to produce and tour the show, which lead to our tour of Ukraine in 2019. As a result of COVID, Tryzub was one of the last outside
dance groups to perform in Ukraine before the world changed as a result of the pandemic,” explained John. “Our fight to stay relevant was critical to our recent success. Tryzub was fortunate to have important insight on Alberta Health Services data that was driving lockdowns through members of our board who worked in health care. Our board was aligned in following health regulations to a T, but not an inch more. Tryzub was prepared and transitioned to online classes without missing a single class. We took the opportunity to create digital content and we hosted in-person events at every opportunity between lockdown waves. In January 2022, lockdowns had barely been lifted when Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine. Knowing Tryzub was uniquely positioned to raise awareness of war in Ukraine through Heroiam Slava, Tryzub decided to
recast the show with new dancers and booked theatres in Calgary for an April performance, not knowing if or when the war would begin,” added John. “Tryzub started to emerge as a cultural leader in raising awareness of war in Ukraine. Like all groups, Tryzub began fundraising to send money to support the war in Ukraine. After sending $5,000 to support efforts in Ukraine, we had an internal meeting to discuss if this was the best use of our time, effort and money. Like everyone we heard about the hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Ukraine. Tryzub made a bold and deliberate decision to no longer send money to Ukraine and to support the Ukrainian families arriving in Canada. Initially, we took a lot of criticism for not supporting the fundraising efforts of war and medical aid to Ukraine, but we did not waiver,” shared John. Tryzub took 30 children from Ukraine joined them with 30 youth from Canada to participate in a week that would change Tryzub forever. “Summer camp was oversold by numbers we were afraid to count, we didn’t have enough volunteers, half our volunteers could barely speak Ukrainian. A young girl at camp started calling one of our camp coordinators dad, because her father was in Ukraine and she said he looked like him,” revealed John. Tryzub has performed six shows and helped raise more than $150,000 in support of settlement projects for Newcomers Western Canada. “We have now taken the bold step to dedicate net proceeds from our 14city tour to support Ukrainian Newcomers. This success story wasn’t without its challenges. First and foremost, when you grow that fast, you need money. So money is a challenge and we had a shortfall in our first year, losing nearly $20,000. We took every opportunity to rethink Ukrainian Dance, the stage, the performance and we had a dedicated team who were relentless in making the best out of a bad situation. “There are 65,000 new Ukrainian’s in Alberta. It’s an opportunity, but we have to recognize that if given the choice between food, shelter, education, or any basic necessity–Ukrainian Dance won’t make the cut–so we need to recognize that a large portion of the new Ukrainian community is in some form of financial need.”