Society for the Performing Arts, bringing the world's best to Houston, presents Virsky Ukrainian National Dance Company for one night only on Friday, Oct. 2, 2009 at 8 p.m. in Jones Hall. Houston is just one stop on the Company's 65-city U.S. tour this fall!
The Ukrainian culture and customs have evolved for thousands of years. Founded by ballet master Pavlo Virsky and led by Artistic Director and National Artist of Ukraine Myroslav Vantukh, Virsky Ukrainian National Dance Company celebrates that lengthy history through vibrant choreography and colorful costumes in a stage performance portraying the rich traditions of its homeland. The performance will begin with a greeting dance complete with bread and salt on an embroidered towel, the symbol of the sincerity and kindness of the Ukrainian people, and will end with the "Hopak" featuring numerous solo performances with intricate choreographic formations.
The history of the ensemble goes back to 1937 when Virsky and Mykola Bolotov brought together a group of folk dancers. Virsky's first efforts at founding a folk dance company were rewarded in 1940, when his group was recognized as Ukraine's Song and Dance Company; today it carries his name. He was trained as a ballet dancer and performed as a soloist with a number of theaters in the old Soviet Union, where he also staged classical ballets such as Marius Pepita's Swan Lake, Don Quixote and Raymonda. However, he was fascinated by folk dancing, which he believed portrayed a people's culture and soul. As a choreographer, Virsky created a number of the dances still performed by the ensemble. It was under his guidance that the ensemble matured into a highly professional dance company of 79 members whose art has won the hearts of countless reviewers and the general public.
Vantukh, Virsky's disciple and great expert in folk traditions and ethnography, has led the ensemble since 1980. His primary objective and continuing creative quest is the careful preservation and development of folk choreographic art. First class performances and expressiveness of the dancers, exquisite moves, the bright palette of costumes, the wealth of tunes and completeness of the choreographic plot are among characteristic features of the ensemble's repertoire.
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