DATELINE NEW YORK: Festival fever hits the city (06/24/01)

DATELINE NEW YORK: Festival fever hits the city

by Helen Smindak

New York turns into a frolicsome festival of music, dance, foods and crafts during the warm-weather months, when streets and avenues around the city are closed to traffic and pedestrians swarm around mini-marketplaces, sampling tasty ethnic foods, browsing stalls of temptingly priced goods and enjoying free entertainment provided by performing artists and ensembles.

Oblivious to the weather, most festivals take place on weekends that are hot, muggy, chilly, windy or wet. Last Sunday's lashing rain and flooded roadways - the result of Hurricane Allison - caused no interference for the 16th annual International Cultures Expo-Fest or its participating groups, including two Ukrainian musical troupes. Though raindrops kept falling lightly on spectators' heads as the storm headed out of the city, the Promin Vocal Ensemble and the Homin Stepiv Bandura Ensemble performed on the covered mobile stage at Madison Avenue and 47th Street and received an enthusiastic reception from the mixed-heritage audience.

With director Bohdanna Wolansky and her trusty guitar fronting 14 vocalists, the Promin ensemble stirred afternoon crowds with its opening rendition of Ihor Sonevytsky's slow, stately "Vesilna Pisnia" (Wedding Song). Soprano Oksana Charuk-Bodnar was the excellent soloist for the selection, a piece with both modern and ancient-sounding phrases that was composed for the 1,000th anniversary of Christianity in Ukraine. Other Ukrainian melodies offered by Promin included the folk song "Verbovaia Doschychka" (Willow Bridge), which brought into play village-style "bilyi holos" (white sound) through the impressive voice of mezzo-soprano Iryna Hrechko, a professional folk singer from Chernihiv.

The Homin Stepiv quartet, directed by John Lechicky, presented a medley of bandura music in "Dvi Vesnianky" (Two Spring Songs) and was joined by the Promin singers for "Dozvol Meni Maty" (Permit me, mother). The two groups topped off their program with the sprightly "Metelytsia" (Whirlwind) that had listeners tapping their toes in rhythm.

Dr. Joseph Costantino, director of special events for the festival sponsor, the International Immigrants Foundation - International Cultures Mission, believes the citywide showcase of the world's cultures will foster positive inter-cultural relations in American society. "We can overcome bias and prejudice, which is mainly due to ignorance, by bringing people together to share their cultures and appreciate them fully," Dr. Costantino declared.

He said he was "very impressed by the singing and beautiful dress" of the Ukrainian performers and would like to get the Ukrainian community involved in the IIF/ICM parade that will be held on Madison Avenue on September 9. While the Expo-Fest was held on Madison Avenue between 37th and 57th streets, the parade will take place on the same avenue from 23rd to 41st streets. The IIF-ICM is a charitable, non-governmental, non-political, non-profit organization whose mission is to help immigrant families and children achieve a better life in the United States as well as to promote positive intercultural relations by changing negative perceptions.

Promin, a multi-purpose chamber choir formed by Ms. Wolansky 29 years ago, performs at fairs, festivals and weddings in the tri-state area. Currently busy singing at weddings at Soyuzivka and in New Jersey, the ensemble is looking forward to participating in the Ukrainian Independence Day celebration in Yonkers, N.Y., on August 24 and a number of cultural events at the Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM) camp in Ellenville, N.Y.

Homin Stepiv (Echo of the Steppes), on hiatus for several months while its director, Mr. Lechicky, was away in Ukraine, resumed its activities with the Madison Avenue festival performance.

The Ukrainian fest

Ukrainians from all five boroughs and nearby tri-state areas trekked to East Seventh Street in the East Village during the third weekend in May for a taste of holubtsi, varenyky and borsch and the thrill of watching Ukrainian dancers from five to 25-plus twirl and leap through kolomyikas and hopaks. They came to admire Sofika Zielyk's stunningly-decorated ostrich pysanky, the elaborate bead gerdany of Sister Josaphat (OSBM), Andrij Khomyk's reverse-glasspaintings in the Arka shop's booth and the ornate flower-and-bird Petrykivka paintings of Andrij Pikush. They arrived also to buy CDs, tapes, embroidered ritual cloths, fringed shawls, hand-carved wooden plates, jewelry, books and greeting cards from a large number of vendors and the adjacent Surma Book Store.

Meeting and greeting friends is an inherent part of a street fair, comparable to chatting on the village green, and I noted plenty of meetings and greetings on Sunday (the day I took in the festival), as well as embroidered shirts and blouses worn by many festival visitors. Among that day's visitors were Myroslava Gongadze, the widow of slain Ukrainian journalist Heorhii Gongadze, and her two small children, and Ukraine's former Minister of Foreign Affairs Borys Tarasyuk, who was in town to attend a conference at Columbia University.

Following a solemn liturgy in St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church, with responses sung by the choir of SS. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church of Olyphant, Pa., under the direction of Patrick Marchinko II, a concert of religious music was presented by the Dumka Chorus, directed by Vasyl Hrechynsky, and Olyphant's Ekumen Chorale, directed by Mr. Marchinko.

Sunday's stage program included singers, musicians and actors, among them the Ukrayinska Rodyna ensemble of Brooklyn directed by Oksana Lykhovyd and the Lisova Pisnia duo of Alla Kucevych and Ludmyla Hrabovsky. Soloists included tenor Roman Tsymbala, sopranos Victoria Kaninska and Laryssa Magun-Huryn, mezzo-soprano Iryna Hrechko and bandurist Ostap Stachiw. There were anecdotes and poems by Iwan Kinal, songs by Laryssa Hulovych, Slava Hirniak and Stepha Lopukh as well as by sisters Lidia and Gabriella Oros, and children's songs by Marianna Kostiuk. (Dance performances were described in Dateline New York of June 3.)

Many of the Sunday performers took part in Friday's and Saturday's programs as well, along with a host of others too numerous to list. Assisting program director Anna Bachynska throughout the weekend were announcers Ulana Kekish-Solodenko, Ivanka Mazur-Hodowanec, Laryssa Magun-Huryn and Taras Mazur.

Despite the exciting stage attractions and vendors' stalls that stretched from Third to Second avenue, numerous visitors continued to line up at a brightly decorated stand, waiting to sign a petition to "Save Taras Shevchenko Place." Residents and non-residents of New York City added their names to the list, protesting The Cooper Union's plan to demap Taras Shevchenko Place so that the university could expand its building space.

In a mid-afternoon call from the stage, Jaroslaw Kurowycky, who heads the Shevchenko Place Preservation Committee, appealed to the festival throng to "help us preserve our community." Mr. Kurowycky declared emphatically: "In a year's time, if we don't take action as a community, we won't see this stage and street here anymore."

Noting that Ukrainians have made the East Village their community base for 150 years and that St. George's Parish (now housed in a beautiful church at the corner of Seventh Street and Taras Shevchenko Place) is 140 years old, Mr. Kurowycky urged all Ukrainians to add their presence and their voice at a community meeting scheduled for May 29 in The Cooper Union's Great Hall.

A side note: Several references were made during Sunday's performances to "the 25th anniversary of St. George's Ukrainian Festival," which should actually be celebrated in 2002. The very first Ukrainian street fair, held in 1976 as part of the Ukrainian community's Bicentennial celebration, was planned and organized by the Ukrainian Bicentennial Committee of New York, headed by attorney John O. Flis, the longtime president of the Ukrainian National Association. St. George's Parish took over the handling of the festival in 1977, so festival planners can now look forward to another 25th anniversary.

The big screen

Jacques Hnizdovsky's unforgettable woodcut "The Sheep" (1969) appears in poster form on the wall of a room in an upcoming film "The Hours," a trilogy based on Michael Cunningham's 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that tells the story of three women in the course of one day. The poster is seen in the trilogy portion that stars Meryl Streep and Ed Harris. (Coincidentally, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts has just reproduced posters of "The Sheep" and the 1962 Hnizdovsky work "Turkey" for sale in its gift shop.)

Mr. Hnizdovsky's work was exhibited last month in New Haven, Conn., by the local branch of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America. A new edition of the book "Ukrainian Folk Tales," translated by Marie Halun Bloch and illustrated by Mr. Hnizdovsky, has been brought out by Hippocrene Books of New York, though with a new format and cover that do not please Mr. Hnizdovsky's widow, Stephanie.

The Ukrainian Institute of America, whose French Gothic architecture and period decor attract filmmakers, was the scene of recent location shooting for the Miramax film "Kate and Leopold," destined for release early next year. Starring Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman, who is currently appearing in the movie "Swordfish," the story takes place in 1880 and 2001. The institute was used for six weeks to shoot the 1880 sequences and a few of the 2001 scenes. Often used for shooting episodes of the television series "Law & Order," the Institute's building at Fifth Avenue and 79th Street has also provided settings for the upcoming film "The Devil and Daniel Webster," starring Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins.

The small screen

Mila Kunis, who plays the snobby character Jackie Burkhardt in the hit Fox series "That 70s Show," was born in Ukraine and moved to Los Angeles with her parents in 1991. The TV show, which chronicles a group of Wisconsin friends coming of age during the disco era, has been picked up for a fifth season. As a youngster, Ms. Kunis was enrolled in a children's acting program and almost immediately landed national commercials for Barbie and Payless Shoes, then moved into guest spots on "Walker, Texas Ranger" and in 1996 nabbed a recurring role on "7th Heaven." At 14, she landed her current gig by telling the show's producers she was going to be 18. Now 17, she not only stars in "That 70's Show" but has several feature film credits, among them "Krippendorf's Tribe," "Honey We Shrunk Ourselves," "Santa With Muscles" and the 2001 film "Get Over It." She has guest-starred on numerous TV shows, including "Baywatch," "Days of Our Lives," "Pensacola" and "Hudson Street," and recently starred as young Gia in the critically acclaimed HBO movie "Gia."

Kevin Olmstead of Ann Arbor, Mich., recently won the "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire" jackpot by correctly identifying Igor Sikorsky as the inventor of the first mass-produced helicopter. ABC claims the $2.18 million he won is the biggest quiz show prize in network television history. Mr. Olmstead, 42, told Millionaire host Regis Philbin: "From being an engineer and being into engineering history, I immediately knew Sikorsky."

Special cable programming on Memorial Day included "The Halls of Montezuma," a World War II film starring Jack Palance and Richard Widmark, shown on AMC's Pearl Harbor All Star Movie Salute. Mr. Palance, who won a best supporting Oscar as the tough old cowboy who leads tenderfoots on their cattle drive in "City Slickers," is hosting a charity golf tournament with a Western theme in Tehachapi, Calif., on June 30 in honor of his late son. Cody Palance died three years ago of melanoma at the age of 43.

Conversing with a contractor named Alex in a recent episode of the CBS series "The King of Queens," Arthur (Jerry Stiller) comments on the man's accent. "I was born in Kiev," replies Alex. "Ah yes," says Arthur, "the jewel of Ukraine."

In the news

No one should miss Irina Dvorovenko's haughty and truly merry widow, Hanna, including her entrance on a ballroom staircase, in the American Ballet Theater's "The Merry Widow," according to The New York Times' dance critic Anna Kisselgoff. Reviewing Ms. Dvorovenko's unscheduled "dazzling" debut in "Widow" on May 26, Ms. Kisselgoff said: "Ms. Dvorovenko is a portrait in fin de siecle presence. She knows how to carry a fan." Plaudits also went to Ms. Dvorovenko's husband, Maxim Belotserkovsky, who was "witty" in the subplot, and to Vladislav Kalinin, considered "more than superb" as the baron's secretary.

Performing in Balanchine's "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux" during ABT's all-Tchaikovsky spectacular at the Metropolitan Opera House, Vladimir Malakhov was deemed "ineffably elegant" by the Times' Jennifer Dunning. Ms. Kisselgoff, reviewing Kevin McKenzie's staging of "Swan Lake," referred to the "elegant line and sinister pounce" channeled by Mr. Malakhov into his solo portraying Rothbart, the ballroom baron.

Columnist Richard Johnson of the New York Post says Oksana Babiy hasn't had an easy time landing acting gigs. Mr. Johnson, who describes the Ukrainian-born actress as a Baltic beauty who plays James Gandolfini's Russian girlfriend in "The Sopranos," says Ms. Babiy believes her Ukrainian accent has cost her jobs. At the reopening of the Baccarat boutique in New York, Ms. Babiy told Mr. Johnson: "I've been called in to audition for things and they didn't want me because of my accent. But I'm working on it."

Irina Krush, a Ukrainian immigrant who is a member of the national championship-winning chess team at Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, has been ranked the top female chess player in the country - and not just among high school players. The information came to light in a June 13 story about the high school in The New York Times. Opened 27 years ago under a cloud of neighborhood opposition, Murrow is one of the jewels the Board of Education can point to when many other high schools are models of disorder and academic stagnation. The school's broad theme is communications, and this year, 93 percent of seniors and 80 percent of juniors have met the state English-language arts requirements needed for graduation, with 92 percent of graduates going to college, some to Ivy League schools.

For his 76th birthday party at his Malibu mansion, Oscar winner Rod Steiger asked his Ukrainian housekeeper to prepare ribs, chicken, shrimp, potato salad and verenike [sic] - defined as potato pierogi - plus strawberry shortcake. New York Post columnist Liz Smith says Steiger and his wife, Joan Benedict, welcomed Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye-Smith with their baby and the hilarious Jonathan Winters to the barbecue.

Helen Smindak's e-mail address is [email protected].

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