CONCERT NOTES: Syzokryli and Cheres at Town Hall in NYC

by Chris Cuming

NEW YORK - Being of a non-Ukrainian background and having no formal dance experience, walking into New York City Town Hall to watch the Syzokryli ensemble was definitely sure to be a new experience.

Besides pictures of previous performances, I had little to go on except what my imagination could help me predict. What I predicted was classic entertainment: music and dance. What I got was a sense of exhilaration that I will not soon forget, a feeling that brought the audience out of their seats.

The opening number, meant to greet the audience with the traditional Ukrainian welcome of bread and salt, did exactly that, feeling like the warm handshake of a new friend. Perhaps one of my favorite first-impressions was the smiles on the faces of the dancers - a genuine grin of goodwill and good times.

This spirit carried through each dance, with particular highlights during the "battle of the sexes" dance, the Kozachok, where the women gained a tambourine or two, and during the dance that provided the men a chance to show off.

The time between each dance did not fall to waste, as it gave me the opportunity to tune my ear into the lively Ukrainian sound provided by Cheres, a very skilled and entertaining band of folk musicians. Being a musician myself, I can assure you that the music they played pushed the limits of tempo, which added to the vibrant pride on exhibition that night.

Still, the focus of the night was the dancing, which was highly skilled, well executed, and beautiful to watch. The movements were precise; the performance was fluid from dance to dance, especially in the finale, Hopak. This seemed to be what everyone was waiting for. This seemed to be Ukrainian dance at its best.

The audience was definitely appreciative, cheering and clapping the whole way through the song, almost to the point where I am sure the dancers must have had a hard time hearing the music themselves.

Chris Cuming is a student at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 16, 2003, No. 7, Vol. LXXI

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