SLOATSBURG, N.Y. – This January, the residents of St. Joseph’s Adult Care Home in Sloatsburg, N.Y., received a pleasant holiday surprise. The families of Tsvitka Ukrainian Dance Academy organized a Ukrainian holiday celebration to thank the home’s residents.
The celebration brought the love of Ukrainian culture to St. Joseph’s, and it touched all of the residents’ hearts. The children from Tsvitka organized a beautiful performance full of Ukrainian dancing, singing, poems and greetings. The residents also had a homemade traditional Ukrainian meal prepared and served to them by the families. This holiday celebration was very enjoyable for the residents and the Tsvitka families.
Our dance group, Tsvitka, started to bloom as a flower, and it is growing and growing as the months pass by. Our group exists due to the hospitality of the Sister Servants of Mary Immaculate in Sloatsburg and the inviting atmosphere that they created for us. The Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate are a religious congregation of women in the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. The Sisters Servants minister to the spiritual, moral, intellectual and social needs of the Ukrainian people.
Every Friday, Tsvitka gets together for rehearsal in Sloatsburg, and families come over from all over New York, northern New Jersey and even from Connecticut. Some of them have to travel for two hours, but the true love and dedication to Ukrainian culture drives their spirit.
We are very blessed with our group’s director, Andrij Cybyk, who is a recognized performer, teacher and choreographer of Eastern European dance, both nationally and internationally.
It seems as if Tsvitka has been around for many years, but in reality it has only been around for three years. We have grown together as a family and became stronger, better and more confident dancers and performers. We are very thankful to everyone who has helped our group thrive. We love our audiences, and we hope to be able to perform in front of many more crowds and open our own studio someday.
[Editor’s note: For more about Tsvitka, we direct readers to https://www.facebook.com/Tsvitka-Ukrainian-Dance-Academy-Цвітка-425339777530096/.]Sophia Senyk, 15, attends Immaculate Heart Academy in New Jersey and lives in Sloatsburg, N.Y.