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Romankiw, Lubomyr
Personne · born 1931

Lubomyr T. Romankiw was born in Zhovkva, Ukraine on April 17, 1931. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and his master's and doctoral degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Romankiw joined IBM in 1962, where he remains today as an IBM Fellow and Researcher at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center.

He is recognized for his research with magnetic materials, reflective displays and copper plating. Romankiw is listed as the inventor or co-inventor on over 65 US patents, including magnetic thin-film storage heads (co-invented with David Thompson in the 1970s). He has also authored over 150 articles and edited numerous volumes of technical symposia.

Several organizations have recognized and awarded Romankiw's work such as the Electrochemical Society, Society of Chemical Industry, and the IEEE. In 1994 he received the IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award, and in 2012, he was an inductee in the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Cherwick, Brian
Personne · born 1960

Brian Cherwick (B. Mus. – Brandon; M.A. – Alberta; PhD. - Alberta) is a specialist in east European traditional music, diaspora cultures, ethnic identity, music industry, material culture and oral history. He was born in Winnipeg into a family that had settled in Canada a couple of generations earlier. Three of his four grandparents were born in the western Ukrainian province of Galicia, from two villages, Chornokonetska Volya and Burdiakivtsi, near the city of Ternopil. Brian’s father’s family were early settlers from the first wave, immigrating to Saskatchewan in 1903, while his mother’s family came to Manitoba during the interwar immigration in the 1920s.

Brian had music on both sides of his family. His father’s father, John Cherewyk, left the farm to become a harness maker and later a meat cutter in the town of Yorkton, Saskatchewan. But on the side, John played fiddle in a trio with his two brothers — one playing tsymbaly and the other adding a second violin. John was additionally trained as a cantor in the Ukrainian Catholic church. Brian learned the cantorial art from his grandfather (as well as other cantors) during church services each Sunday and would come back with him and hear him fiddling at home. Brian holds a position today as a cantor in his church and is active in teaching liturgical singing to fellow congregants. On his mother's side, Brian's great-grandfather was a fiddler and his grandmother even played the small bubon in the band until she was old enough to marry (it was not respectable then for mature women to play music). Brian's uncle Mike Klym played drum kit with the D-Drifters, one of the most famous Western Canadian Ukrainian bands. The D-Drifters were especially known for providing backup to Mickey and Bunny, a famous singing married couple, and for recording country western music with English and Ukrainian lyrics. Their biggest hit was a Ukrainian translation of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land," and the disc sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Uncle Mike was only fifteen years older than Brian, and so Brian grew up going to practices of the D-Drifters.

Brian formed his first band with friends at age 14, and began playing violin at weddings at age 15. Instrumentation has changed with the tastes of the community, and modern bands often feature accordions, keyboards, saxes, electric guitars, basses and drum kits (such adaptation is not a new phenomena — grandfather John Cherewyk also performed on the Hawaiian-style lap steel guitar which was a rage in the 20s and 30s). At age 16, Brian acquired a tsymbaly from his brother who had gotten it from a church group. As a young musician with an entrepreneurial flair, Brian saw tsymbaly as a way to differentiate his band and their advertisements would promote the fact that they played the old tunes on traditional instruments as well as in more modern arrangements. Brian learned tsymbaly from watching the old-timers play at weddings (with over 100 first-cousins, there were plenty of family celebrations throughout the year). He also listened to regional Canadian-Ukrainian commercial recordings featuring tsymbaly-- bands such as those of the Alberta fiddlers Metro Radomsky, Bill Boychuk, and Manitoba fiddlers Jim Gregorash, Tommy Buick and Peter Lamb, as well as the Interlake Polka Kings.

Brian entered Brandon University (about 100 km west of Winnipeg) to study in its well regarded music program. Though tsymbaly was not offered, he enrolled as a pianist and percussionist. After graduating, Brian spent four years teaching music and conducting choirs at a seminary in Roblin, Manitoba, a tenure that was interrupted mid-way by an opportunity to study music for a year in Ukraine. Brian had received an invitation from the Society for Relations with Ukrainians Abroad. Based at the Kyiv Conservatory, Brian took classes in cimbalom, the piano-sized concert version of the tsymbaly that had developed in Hungary at the end of the 19th century and was taught in conservatories in Hungary, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Moldova. Adapting from tsymbaly to cimbalom requires learning a completely different tuning system, sticking technique and use of the cimbalom’s damper pedal, which is similar to that of a piano. Though his assigned teacher was Gyorgi Ahratina, who played cimbalom with the national folk orchestra, Brian learned more from Vasyl Palaniuk, an ethnic Hutsul from the Carpathians who was the senior cimbalom student at the conservatory and is today recognized as one of Ukraine's leading players. While Palaniuk played cimbalom in the conservatory ensemble, Brian would play percussion alongside of him as they accompanied highly choreographed folkloric dance presentations.

From Roblin, Brian moved to Edmonton to enroll in the University of Alberta's graduate programs in Ukrainian folklore and ethnomusicology. His doctoral dissertation focused on the influences of social conditions and popular music on the development of Ukrainian traditional music in western Canada. He is currently researching the ethnic commercial recording industry in Canada. Dr. Cherwick is Adjunct Professor of Folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland, has taught at the University of Alberta and Athabasca University. He has worked as a researcher for the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village in Alberta and for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. He is also active as a performer, composer and music educator and has appeared in performances and conducted seminars and workshops throughout North America and Europe.

Yanda, Doris Elizabeth
Personne · 1905-2005

Doris E. Yanda, community leader and author, was born on March 16,1905 in Gimli, Manitoba to Anthony and Anna Konashevich, Ukrainian pioneers who arrived in Canada in 1900. The family moved to southwestern Saskatchewan and Doris completed her secondary education in Saskatoon where she attended the P.Mohyla Institute. Throughout her life and career, she continued her education at the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Alberta.

She began to write at an early age and wrote poems, articles and stories under the names of Dorothy Yanda, Elizabeth Young and Daria Mohylianka. She was editor of the Women’s Page in the newspapers, Ukrainian Voice and Ukrainian Farmer. She was also on the editorial committee of the Ukrainian Voice.

In 1923, she was one of the organizers of the Ukrainian Ladies Society of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and she held various executive positions including vice-president and president. n June, 1926 she married DmytroYanda, a lawyer. In 1926 she was one of the founders of the Ukrainian Women’s Association of Canada (UWAC) and held various executive positions at the local, provincial and national levels for many years. In 1933 and 1934 she was National Vice-President and Provincial President of Alberta and in 1935 and 1936, she was National President of the Ukrainian Women’s Association of Canada. She convened the Ukrainian National Handicraft Exhibit in 1935. In 1952, Mrs. Yanda was honoured with an honorary life membership in the UWAC. She was also active in the National Council of Women and the Women’s Council of Canada.

She was a member of the Canadian Authors’ Association since 1934. She has published numerous articles including books of poetry, in Ukrainian and in English. She has published twelve books on various literary subjects under several pen names.

During the Second World War, she was very active in voluntary war work in Edmonton. She was involved in numerous organizations such as Red Cross, War Savings Stamps, Regional Advisory Committee of the Wartime Price Control Board and others.

In 1948 she was involved with the British Columbia Flood Relief Fund and she also wrote on this disaster for the popular press.

She was also active in the Local Council of Women in Edmonton. Through her work she facilitated the immigration of many Ukrainian Displaced Persons and Refugees to Canada. In 1949 she visited over twenty Displaced Persons Camps in Germany with her husband for three months and they made speaking tours on their return to Canada. She was also involved in voluntary work to assist the newly arrived Ukrainian Displaced Persons.

She was widowed in 1969 and then married John McMullan. She is recognized as a master weaver and taught weaving in Edmonton and organized courses at the Banff Centre - School of Fine Arts from 1976 to 1987.

During her life, she received many awards and distinctions from various national organizations and from the Ukrainian community including the Taras Shevchenko Medal.

Lupul, Manoly
Personne · 1927-2019

Lupul, Manoly (14 August, 1927 in Willingdon, Alberta - 24 July, 2019 in Calgary). Historian, educator, and community leader. A graduate of the University of Alberta, the University of Minnesota, and Harvard University (PH D, 1963), he taught educational foundations and Canadian educational history at the University of Alberta from 1958. He became a leading figure in the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation and played a major role in the establishment of the Ukrainian-English bilingual program in Alberta schools (1974) and the creation of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS). The Institute's first director (1976–86). He also was prairie regional chairperson and national vice-chairperson of the Canadian Consultative Council on Multiculturalism (1973–9) and a key member and first chairperson (1982–3) of the Ukrainian Community Development Committee.
(Source: Danylo Husar Struk. “Lupul, Manoly.” Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CL%5CU%5CLupulManoly.htm)

Nemirsky, Theodore
Personne · 1869-1946

Theodore Nemirsky, 1869-1946, was born in the Ukraine and came to Canada in 1896. He settled in the Wostok area of Alberta. In 1986 he married Katherine Mariancz and they had six children. The next year he was appointed postmaster and also served as guide to help settlers locate their land. He helped establish the Wostok school and acted as interpreter for many local citizens.

Lesiv, Mariya
Personne · born 1978

Mariya Lesiv was born in Horodenka, Ivano-Frankivs'k region, Ukraine. Her father is a TV journalist, and her mother is a visual artist who teaches at an art college in Ivano-Frankivs'k. Mariya did her undergraduate studies at the Lviv National Academy of Arts, and graduated with a specialist degree in Fine, Applied and Decorative Arts in 2001. In 2001-2003, she did her post-graduate studies in History and Theory of Art, at the Lviv National Academy of Arts.

Mariya came to the University of Alberta to study Ukrainian folklore in 2003 where she received her MA (2005) and PhD (2011). Her doctoral dissertation is devoted to Ukrainian Paganism, a new religious and political movement that strives to revive old rural folklore while creating an alternative vision of a present-day Ukrainian nation in both Ukraine and the diaspora.

Mariya worked for the Kule Centre for Ukrainian and Canadian Folklore, University of Alberta, where she taught and was actively engaged in fieldwork and publication projects dealing with various aspects of Ukrainian diaspora culture. She married Brian Anthony Cherwick in 2008.

Mariya received a job as an assistant professor of folklore at the Memorial University, Newfoundland in 2011, and moved to St. John's with her family. Her research interests include diaspora studies; folklore and national/ethnic identity building; material culture; folk religion; new religious movements; ritual, belief, and spiritual culture; as well as modern Paganisms (Western and East European). Her first book The Return of Ancestral Gods: Modern Ukrainian Paganism As an Alernative Vision for a Nation was published by McGill-Queen's University Press in 2013.

Mariya's new research project focuses on new diaspora communities established by recent immigrants to Newfoundland from the former Socialist block.

Holinaty, Elizabeth
Personne · born 1936

Elizabeth Holinaty was born on a farm three miles from Wakaw, Saskatchewan to parents who were born in Canada. Her grandparents immigrated from western Ukraine. Her maternal ancestors came from Horodenka. Her grandfather Gabriel Holinaty came from Zalishchyky and worked as a tanner (kushnir) for the landlord. He made a kozhukh for a lady in Wakaw. Her mother Mary Kotelko Holinaty embroidered a great deal, and also sewed, crocheted and knitted. She was a collector and organizer.

Elizabeth went to Zalishchyky school near Wakaw. She remembers not knowing to speak English when she started school, crying for several days. Elizabeth studied Home Economics and Education at the University of Saskatchewan. She was a grade 1-4 teacher for several decades, moving from Saskatchewan to Alberta in the 1970s. She has a post-graduate diploma from 1970-71, specializing in reading diagnosis and reading remedial work, but she missed classroom contact, and returned to regular teaching. Before and after she retired in 1991, she tried painting, drawing, pottery, pysanky. She loves to sing and also to bake breads, but found her true calling and inspiration in weaving. In the 1980s and later, she attended many bread making classes, embroidery classes, weaving classes, pysanky workshops, etc. She participated in the Ukrainian fashion activities in the Edmonton area.

Elizabeth’s first weaving lessons were from the Cyril Flour Mill Company, near Wakaw. She bought her first 1950s loom from the Burkhailo family near Wakaw in the 1980s. Elizabeth didn’t attend the first 2-3 weaving workshops in Banff, but went to nearly all of them thereafter. Chester and Luba Kuc asked her to make Hutsul fabric, requesting she reproduce it as accurately as possible. Elizabeth prefered natural fibres then, and still does. Calmar Zirka dancers ordered some costume pieces thereafter, and her work weaving Ukrainian dance costumes snowballed after that. She did this work on weekends as a teacher at first, and continued after she retired. Elizabeth has woven many Ukrainian dance costumes for groups in Saskatchewan, and other places. Many different organizations commission weavings, sometimes based on very traditional models, sometimes adapted and contemporized. She has also reproduced historical sashes for the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, etc.

Elizabeth has attended many textile and weaving conferences across North America. Her first weaving conference and first exhibition was at “Convergence 86” in Toronto. The Ukrainian community participated in the conference, and asked her for 5 pieces for display.

Elizabeth, Kay Chernyavsky and Pauline Lysak organized a number of projects to provide interesting towels and cloths with Ukrainian themes.

Elizabeth embroiders small towels for pallbearers in the Wakaw area, now mostly for family. Sometimes she embroiders seven, because the cross bearer also receives one. She also embroiders or weaves wedding rushnyky.

Elizabeth has donated numerous family records to the Ukrainian Catholic Museum in Saskatoon (including her father’s careful accounting books and planting records, mother’s records), and some materials to the Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives.

Pelech Carrow, Patricia
Personne · 1945-2013

Patricia Pelech Carrow lived her childhood years in Bellis, Alberta. Pat was 11 when her father died, and her mother, Fiona Pelech, moved the family to Edmonton where Pat attended high school and university. During those years, Pat was very involved in the Ukrainian community. She was a founding member and President of the Shumka Ukrainian Dance Group which over the years has gone on to achieve national and international recognition.

She graduated from the University of Alberta in 1965 with a B.Sc. degree and went on to work as a Research Technician in microbiology with the Canadian Forest Service in Victoria. During these years Pat developed her creative skills in pysanky (Ukrainian Easter eggs), painting and Ukrainian weaving, which she taught at the Banff Centre for several summers. In 1978, Pat changed careers in 1978 and attended the Ontario College of Art, graduating in 1981 with a Diploma in Textile Design. She focused for several years on the use of colour and experimental design in ethnic weaving; many of her pieces are in the Ukrainian Museum in Saskatoon. Eventually Pat found the medium too restrictive, and while she was teaching at the New Brunswick Craft School from 1982 to 1985, she moved into a new medium – collage. For the next 20 years, Pat developed her creative abilities in collage, using a surprising range of materials and becoming renowned for her use of colour. Her choice of collage materials astounded many of her friends – porcupine quills, tree bark, fungus, rust and anything else that one might find in a recycling container. Pat's works were exhibited in galleries across Canada, from Fredericton to Victoria.

Pat's other creative outlet was the kitchen. She was famous for being able to come up with a tasty meal when there didn't appear to be anything in the fridge, and her 'diagonally through the fridge' soups, though delicious, were never reproducible. For almost 30 years Pat and Rod lived in Dufferin County, looking west over the beautiful Hockley Valley. She enjoyed the drama provided by the seasons and the landscape as they provided inspiration for her art. When not in the studio, Pat was an avid gardener, and a ruthless weeder and pruner, as some of her friends discovered when they let her free on their properties. Rod and Pat enjoyed travelling. In 1995 they bought an RV and did an 18,000 km trip through less travelled parts of Canada to Alaska, followed by a trip to the US Southwest. In 2001, Pat and Rod purchased a cabin on Hornby Island in B.C.'s Strait of Georgia, where they spent many relaxing summer vacations with their children and grandchildren. In 2007, they took a cruise through the Baltic Sea – the best and the last they would do together. In 2008, they moved to the Victoria area to retire in a beautiful part of the world and be close to their family.

Korpus, Nadia
Personne · b. 1929

Nadia Korpus was born in Regina, Saskatchewan on the 18th of August 1929. Her father, Peter Korpus (Korpesio) was born in Malniv, Ukraine in 1897 and followed his older brother, John Korpesio to Canada in the early 1920s. Nadia’s mother, Olga Wawruck, was born in Hubbard, Saskatchewan in 1903. Her parents had arrived in Canada in 1899 from Koshlyakeh, Ternopil Oblast, Halychyna, Ukraine. Peter and Olga were married in Hubbard in 1926, and settled in Regina where they soon started a family. Their oldest son, Roman (Raymond), was born in 1927 followed by Nadia in ’29. Nadia’s younger brother Donald (Donny) was born in 1930, and her younger sister Patricia (Pat Sembaliuk) was born later in 1935.

She was active in the Ukrainian National Federation and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada. Her passion for Ukrainian Culture was further encouraged through participation in the summer school “Kursy” which she attended in 1946-48. Nadia is noted for establishing the Rusalka Dance Ensemble in Calgary (1961-67), and having inspired many Ukrainian dancers, both male and female, to continue dancing and teaching across the prairies.

Drepko, Anna
Personne · 1925 - 2018

Anna Drepko was born in 1925 in Novosilka, a small village in Ternopil, Ukraine. Her life as she knew it was disrupted when the second world war started and she was forcibly taken to Germany to work as a labourer. When the war ended, Anna immigrated to Scotland. There she lived in a hostel with young Ukrainian women, all of whom worked in a thread factory. In 1949, Anna met and married her husband, who was residing in Oldham, England, at the time and who coincidentally was also from Novosilka. They settled in Oldham for the next several years. Shortly after the birth of their first child, Maria, the family immigrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba where, four years later their second child, Myron, was born. Anna has resided in Winnipeg ever since.

Life in Winnipeg centered around the Ukrainian community, primarily the Ukrainian Canadian Institute Prosvita and the church. It was very important for Anna and her husband to raise their children according to Ukrainian culture and traditions: They enrolled them in the Ukrainian youth organization SUM, Ukrainian dance classes and ridna shkola.
Anna's passion was embroidery. i assume her interest may have been sparked while living and working in Scotland. Upon arriving in Canada, Anna spent a great deal of her spare time embroidering. As life in Winnipeg unfolded, Anna's time eventually became devoted elsewhere, but she did continue to embroider on a lesser scale until the early 1990s.

Anna passed away in Winnipeg on September 8, 2018. The following information is the obituary from the Korban Funeral Home website: Retrieved from https://www.korbanchapel.com/notices/Anna-Drepko on 2019-01-09.

"Peacefully, on September 8, 2018, after a lengthy debilitating illness, Anna entered into God’s Kingdom. Anna was born in Novosilka, Ternopil, Western Ukraine, to parents Antin and Kateryna. At the age of 17, she was taken from her home and family by the German army, to work forced labour on a farm in Germany. She was liberated by the American army when the Second World War ended, and spent time in a DP camp in Germany. From there she immigrated to Paisley, Scotland, where she lived in a hostel with other young Ukrainian women, all of whom worked in a thread factory. When Anna married her husband Hryhorij, they settled in Oldham, England, where their daughter Maria was born. In 1952, Anna and her family crossed the Atlantic Ocean and settled in Winnipeg, where their son, Myron was born. Beginning a new life in Canada posed many challenges, but Anna and Hryhorij worked tirelessly to provide a good life for their young family.

Anna was very proud of her rich Ukrainian heritage, culture and language. She spent any spare moment embroidering traditional Ukrainian designs. Some of her vyshyvky are at the University of Alberta at the Kule Folklore Centre. She also ensured that her children attended Ukrainian School (Ridna Shkola), Ukrainian dancing, CYM (Ukrainian Youth Organization), and the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Anna was a member of the Ukrainian Canadian Institute Prosvita, the League of Ukrainian Canadian Women, and Sts. Volodymyr & Olha Cathedral. In later years, she became a member of the Senior’s Club of Prosvita, where she loved to sing, dance and socialize. She also sang in the Dumka Choir.

She always yearned to return to Ukraine. In 1985, she was able to fulfill her dream. She reunited with her family in Ukraine for the first time after being apart for 50 years.

Anna was predeceased by her husband Hryhorij. She leaves to mourn her daughter Maria Stolarskyj, son Myron (Tania), grandchildren Laryssa, Teresa (Tim), Oleh, Kathryn (Jay), Alexa (Shane), great grandchildren, Luke, Sofia and Mia. Anna loved her grandchildren and great grandchildren. They were her pride and joy.

The family thanks Drs. Terry and Andrea Babick for their wonderful care. Thank you to St. Joseph’s Residence for the exceptionally kind and compassionate care of our mom for the past 10 years.

Funeral Divine Liturgy will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 13, 2018, at St. Joseph’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, 250 Jefferson Ave., followed by interment at All Saints Cemetery.

Pallbearers will be Oleh Stolarskyj, Myron Pawlowsky, Shane Yanke, Tim Stokes, Jay Comeault, and Andrew Leskiw."

Gordey, Gordon
Personne · b. 1948

Gordon Gordey (Master of Fine Arts, Master of Arts, Bachelor of Education) was a key builder in the evolution of the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers of Canada. In his forty years with Shumka, Gordey transitioned from a dancer, to a librettist/writer, and to a stage director, conceiving twenty-five original dance works for Shumka from 1992 to 2012. His works set a benchmark for Ukrainian dance in Canada and have toured across Canada, Ukraine, and over 20 cities in China. Gordey also served as Shumka's Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer for 12 years. Gordey is privileged to be a Honourary Lifetime Member of the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers.

In his creative career outside of Shumka, Gordey studied ballet with Ruth Carse, founder of Alberta Ballet, spent 20 years as an Arts Consultant with the Department of Culture in Alberta, and worked for 13 years as a Human Rights Officer with the Alberta Human Rights Commission. He has been teaching Drama for 37 years at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton. For Alberta's Centennial in 2005, he conceived and produced Celebrate Alberta as part of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's official welcome to Alberta's Centennial event, which included 1500 performers. In the same year, Gordey was recognized as one of the most influential people in the development of theatre in Alberta in the publication: Theatre 100. In 2006 he received the Hetman Award for Outstanding Contributions and Dedicated Service in Promoting Ukrainian Heritage and Culture in Alberta. He continues to serve the Ukrainian Canadian community as a National Board Member of the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko.

Below is an autobiography provided by Gordon Gordey.

"I was born in 1948 into the farming community of Innisfree, in northeast central Alberta. My great-grandparents, George and Magdalena Gordey arrived in Canada on June 2, 1900 emigrating from Borivsti, Bukovyna in present day Ukraine. Unlike the predominantly Ukrainian settlement prairie villages in northeast central Alberta, Innisfree was ethnically diverse. In general, everyone who lived north and west of Innisfree was of Ukrainian heritage and everyone who lived south and east of Innisfree was of British heritage. The village was a hub of Canadian diversity of the era, even though no-one was aware of this at the time.

Growing up my parents, John and Emily Gordey, hammered home over and over again to me: “Bud' kul’turna l’udyna– Be a cultured person”. There was no caveat that being “cultured” meant that part of me that was Ukrainian. It was an inclusive guidepost for life. This phrase stirred my imagination. From a young age it made me reach for a higher ground. I read everything I could from Canadian war stories, to every classic of British and American literature and to Dostoyevsky, when I was only 14 years old. I stood as close to the stage as I could at Ukrainian weddings and learned to sing the wedding songs. I listened to dance bands of Metro Radomsky and Jimmy Watsko stir my emotion for Ukrainian music with their wonderful singing violins. Church services filled my imagination with myth, magic and mystery. Folk superstitions kept me awake at nights after visits to Baba K. who poured wax onto the water, whispered incantations, and cured me of my fear of roosters.

Grade school whizzed by with academics, participation in all school sports, and singing in the rock band, The Rivals, in the 60’s. In 1965 I experienced a pivotal event that would lead me into the world of Ukrainian dance. I attended a summer cultural program, Osvita, at St. John’s Institute where I was instructed in Ukrainian dance by a fiery young Shumka dancer named Gerald Metrunec. Like me, he was from rural Alberta, the town of Myrnam, and had come to Edmonton to join the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers and go to University. Within 10 days he used my background in athletics to drill into me the basics of Ukrainian dance. That fall, upon my return to Innisfree, I knew more about Ukrainian dance than anyone in my community, and was tagged to teach Ukrainian dancing in the town of Vegreville. My survival as a dance teacher with limited pedagogy depended on my creativity, my knowledge of music, and the drive to excel in dance that Gerald Metrunec had instilled. In 1966 my family moved into Edmonton and I joined the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers. Edmonton became my cultural oasis. I also immersed myself in ballet, jazz, theatre studies, choirs, musicals, and operatic singing lessons. Like-minded friends like the musically gifted, Gene Zwozdesky and the top male ballet and Ukrainian dancer of the day, Orest Semchuk inspired me to adhere to the guidepost of “Be a cultured person.” The Drama Department at the University of Alberta was at a high point of fine art at the time and filled my thirst for learning and practicing world theatre and art.

It is from this well-spring, “Dzerelo”, of experiences that my 40-year journey of creating original Ukrainian dance in Canada took flight." (Gordon Gordey, March 7, 2017)