Vesna Ukrainian Dancers are preparing for their year-end Nanaimo concert after bringing home medals at the B.C. Ukrainian Dance Festival.
On Sunday, June 1, Vesna Ukrainian Dancers will be joined at Malaspina Theatre with guest performances by Vesna Ukrainian Singers, Courtenay's Dolyna Ukrainian Dancers and Cassandra Karras' School of Highland Dance.
"I think it's important to keep traditions up, regardless of ethnicity or backgrounds and we just like to show there is a Ukrainian presence in the city, even more so now," said Jeanne Rudy, Vesna Ukrainian Dancers instructor.
The Vesna dancers will showcase several different regional dances, creating a sort of cultural mosaic, she said.
"There's about 22 different regions in Ukraine and they have unique costumes and styles of music because people didn't get around much, they tended to stay in their own communities…" Rudy explained. "Depending on what countries they're close to, [for example], Bukovynian dances are very close to Romanian-looking costumes and styles of music."
Earlier this month at the provincial festival in Mission, Vesna's adult and junior members earned gold, while seniors brought home two silver medals.
At the Nanaimo show, called 'Growing Up,' dancers will present an interconnected story.
"It's a story that follows two girls, with the beginner group, then we have the junior group, then we have the teenagers and then two of the teenage girls, it is their story as they grow up and come of age," Rudy said. "They get the full red boots, velvet dress and special head-piece the women wear with the flowers and the ribbons."
Growing Up takes place Sunday, June 1, at 2 p.m. at Vancouver Island University's Malaspina Theatre. Tickets can be purchased by contacting Vesna Ukrainian Dancers through e-mail vesnadancers@gmail.com. Tickets are $15 or $10 for children 12 and under and free for kids five and under.
