This dancework was created for The Ukrainian Shumka Dancers of Canada and received its premiere at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium on November 11, 2006. Shumka Remembers is multi-media dancework tribute to those who served and those who wished to serve in world conflicts. It was directed for the stage by Gordon Gordey, with Canadian modern dance choreographer Brian Webb and Shumka’s Resident Choreographer, Dave Ganert, and was danced by the Shumka company. The stage performance included guest appearances by Nicholas Faryna, an active service Afghanistan veteran and Bill Rawluk, a WWII veteran. The presence in the performance of these soldiers linked soldiers from WWI to those of more recent times and the present. The music for this dancework came from the repertoire of Winnipeg singer, Alexis Kochan and her musicians: Paris to Kyiv. Her haunting voice for There is a Gravemound in the Field (Oj U Poli Mohyla) was a cornerstone for the dramatic emotion in Shumka Remembers. The video of Shumka Remembers was shown in Kyiv on Remembrance Day 2008 under the patronage of Canada’s former ambassador to Ukraine, Abina Dann. Shumka Remembers is a tribute to the unjust internment of Ukrainian Canadians as “enemy aliens” in Canada during WWI. These “enemy aliens” were subjected to having to carry registration identity papers, often pay monthly registration fees, and were under constant surveillance. Of the 80,000 who were registered under the authority of the Act, 8,579 were deemed: “enemy aliens”. The majority of “enemy aliens” were Ukrainians and were arrested and interned in 26 makeshift encampments located mostly in Canada’s frontier hinterlands. They were forced into hard labour clearing land for roads, building bridges, and building the railway.
First Draft Concept/Libretto for Shumka Remembers, the original work that led to Voices of the Silenced, was created in 2003.
Shumka Remembers - Premiere Performance, Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Edmonton: November 11, 2006.
