Some members of Kryla Ukrainian Dancers group, from Bonnyville, Alta., get ready to take the stage Saturday at the 2019 Svoboda Dance Festival in North Battleford. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Celebrating Ukrainian culture

Svoboda Dance Festival’s 30th anniversary show a huge success

Apr 8, 2019 | 2:10 PM

The Battlefords were the place to be for everything Ukrainian on the weekend as the 2019 Svoboda Dance Festival hit the stage at the Dekker Centre.

There was an impressive turnout as well, with dancers taking part from across Saskatchewan and Alberta for the competition, which marked the 30^th anniversary of the festival.

Children, youth and adults all participated in the event that ran from Friday to Sunday.

The Kryla Ukrainian Dancers from Bonnyville, Alta., which included more than 50 dancers ranging in age from children to adults, were among the many visitors performing in the festival.

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David Sharun and Erin Haugen were part of the Kryla adult group called Razom, and wore traditional dress from the Central Ukraine region for their harvest dance performance Saturday.

“It’s an excellent competition,” Sharun said, adding he found the adjudicating for the festival to be top notch. “Everybody is so helpful and warm; it’s a great place to be today.”

Haugen said it was fun to return to the North Battleford event again. She noted people may not realize adults also take part in the festival.

“It gives us a chance to showcase what we have been working so hard at all year,” she said. “It gives us a platform to show it off, and it gives us a little bit of time away from our normal everyday lives too.”

Haugen said the Kryla dancers usually takes part in about three or four festivals during the year. They will also be performing in the Vermilion Ukrainian Dance festival April 12 to 14, and after that will be taking part in the dance club’s year-end show in Bonnyville in May.

Danielle Radchenko is president of Svoboda Dancers Ukrainian Dance Club, a non-profit club in the Battlefords, and also a parent of some of the young dancers taking part in the local festival. She said she was glad to see the dance event went so well this year.

One of the sessions on Saturday afternoon actually was sold out for those taking in the performances.

“The dance festival was a huge success,” Radchenko said on Monday, adding the festival committee led by Tara Campbell and Shannon MacInnis were busy working with the many dancers and dance families from around Saskatchewan and Alberta taking part. The adjudicator for the competitions came from Manitoba.

“We had a great turnout,” said Radchenko. “It was really nice to have an event of that calibre in our own community where our dancers could showcase their dancing, but also bring in community members and celebrate Ukrainian culture.”

Many local and surrounding businesses and organizations sponsored the competitions and provided prizes.

Radchenko added she was pleased to see some of the Battlefords dancers performing so well in the competition too, as a boost for the local area.

“There were many performances, from solos to duets to trios, receiving marks that were eligible for gold medals,” she added.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW