DANCE REVIEW: Virsky dancers dazzle Berkeley audience (11/28/04)

DANCE REVIEW: Virsky dancers dazzle Berkeley audience

by Nestor Wolansky

BERKELEY, Calif. - In a town better known for its often liberal and radical views, and a lack of support of Ukrainians, the Virsky Dance Ensemble, founded in 1937, proved that if you're good, you can soar above any unfounded and untrue perceptions. From the moment the curtain rose at the Zellerbach Auditorium on Sproul Plaza, the birthplace of the student Free Speech Movement in the 1960s, on a sunny September 29 at 3 p.m., and the spectacularly dressed Virsky dancers appeared on stage with the traditional Ukrainian bread adorned with a "rushnyk" (ritual cloth), it was obvious that the audience would be swept off its feet.

And it was.

The number of Ukrainians in attendance was not large, but the many folk dance aficionados of the Bay Area who came to see one of the greatest folk dance groups in the world, more than made up in the enthusiastic approval of the performance. What the Bolshoi and Kirov are to the Russians, the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico is to the Mexicans and the Vienna Boys Choir to the Austrians, the Virsky Dance Ensemble is surely to the Ukrainians.

Little girls sat wide-eyed, gasping at the unbelievable dance routines, while their parents swooned in their chairs in near disbelief, asking, "Did you see that?", "That's incredible!", "How do they do that?"

Frequent applause interrupted the performance, while in several instances wild cheers erupted from individuals wearing Ukrainian blouses or shirts.

During the intermission the crowds mingled casually in the lobby, sipping wine or mineral water. A spattering of Ukrainian, Russian and Polish was heard. A woman from Palo Alto with her elderly mother brought bouquets of flowers, while a Ukrainian professor at Berkeley, originally from Dnipropetrovsk, speaking no Ukrainian, kept repeating in Russian, "Kak khorosho! Molodtsy!", (Well done, young ones) while his statuesque wife agreed, saying, "Da, da, da, milyi moi" (Yes, yes, yes, my dear), as tears glistened in their eyes.

Even though the promotion poster correctly said "Kyiv," and not "Kiev," Cal Performances, the organization responsible for booking cultural events at U.C. Berkeley, had made several inexcusable and unforgivable errors in its program brochure, referring to some of the dance numbers as Russian, and spelled "Ukrainian" as "Ukranian" on the entrance tickets. The dance number "Vyshyvantsi" (the Embroiders), was erroneously referred to as "A women's dance, drawing from the Russian [sic] tradition of needlework, portraying the deep and rich beauty of Russian [sic] women," and the Carpathian Dance, depicting the various regions of the Carpathians - Hutsulschyna, Bukovyna and Zakarpattia - as reflecting three different kinds of Russian [sic] folk songs. The Cal Performances people, it seems, have been grossly misinformed about Ukrainians. The audience especially loved the Moriaki (Sailors), and the humorous "Oi, Pid Vishneiu (Oh, Under the Cherry Tree) numbers. And finally, the Hopak, the quintessential Ukrainian dance, featuring numerous solo performances, breathtaking tricks and splendid choreographic combinations, brought the house down with a standing ovation.

This writer's calls to Cal Performances on campus went unanswered, so I was unable to learn why after 13 years of Ukrainian independence, an office on one of America's greatest universities is so blatantly irresponsible, listing historically inaccurate and inappropriate information about Ukrainians in its program brochure.

At the conclusion of the concert, crowds mobbed the table in the lobby, where videos and books about the Virsky Dance Ensemble were being sold. A young girl, wearing a flowery, Poltava-style embroidered blouse purchased both. And the Virsky Dancers, after giving an educational class the following day at U.C. Berkeley, were moving on to southern California, and after that on its extensive 70-cities itinerary. Well done, Virsky Dancers! Diakuyemo!

| Home Page |