The Fisher Branch Chaika Ukrainian Dance Club marked 54 years of high-spirited dance performances at its Malanka on Jan. 13 at the community hall.
Club secretary Amanda Bouchard said the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled their 50th anniversary celebration in 2020, but they continued to practise and fundraise to keep the club going.
“Our club right now has 50 dancers from 30 families. Our youngest group of dancers are four years old and we have 14 dancers in grades 9 to 12 at Fisher Branch Collegiate,” said Bouchard. “We have a creative movement class this year.
Attendees enjoyed a traditional Ukrainian supper which was followed by the club’s performances of 10 different folk dances including the hopak, poltava, volyn, bukovina, hutsul and polissia, as well as a character dance called the barnyard dance that was performed by the beginners. The evening ended with the kolomeyka, a free-form dance that lets dancers show off their skills.
“Our kolomeyka was about 20 minutes long and we had probably close to 20 former dancers join in at the end,” said Bouchard. “And just before midnight we formed a Malanka unity circle for a local family, Cameron and Shailynn and their baby Anthony, who was our Malanka baby. We had two dancers and a baba go around the circle. The baba gives everyone a handful of wheat. It represents going out with the old and coming in with the new. Then we did a countdown and everyone threw the wheat into the air.”
Chaika dancers have been “blessed” with many local community sponsors and families, said Bouchard, helping fund costumes and other expenses and supporting their fundraisers. The club puts on a silent auction at Malanka and at spring recitals and does a Grey Cup tickets fundraiser and a perogy and sausage fundraiser every fall. It also donated proceeds from a raffle to a non-profit group in Ukraine that delivers humanitarian aid to communities devastated by the Russian invasion.
“Last year we did a raffle and donated all the proceeds to Principle of Consciousness, a group in Ukraine that are on the front lines supporting soldiers and bringing food and water to communities that are cut off from everything,” said Bouchard. “The Fisher Branch community has been amazing at supporting our club. For all our fundraisers, we get so much support and that’s why this club has been successful for as long as it has.”
“We would like to thank our instructors, Deneika Gard and Cody Vandersteen, who have been with our club as dancers and are very lucky to have them as instructors. Jessica Truthwaite has also been helping our club this year, and it is so awesome having her back to instruct,” said Bouchard. “We are also very blessed to have two senior dancers volunteering with our younger groups, Carli Nahuliak and Brandt Cochrane. Our club greatly appreciates these positive role models who are giving their time back to our club and inspiring the younger generations of dancers. And we would like to thank our incredible, hard working Chaika Board of Directors: Laura Grzenda, Larissa Nahuliak our Vice President, Kristen Stocki our Treasurer, Amanda Bouchard, Dwight Nahuliak, Sara Uruski, and Chad Rindall. There is a ton of work done behind the scenes in this club and our group is so very fortunate to have such a dedicated board.”
The club’s spring tea is scheduled for Sunday, April 14 in the Fisher Branch Collegiate gymnasium. It will also be competing at the Kalyna Dance Festival in Yorkton, Sask., at the end of April.
Express Photos by Sara Uruski
