Les Sareda is the Senior Artistic Director of the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers, one of Edmonton’s—and Canada’s—best-known and biggest Ukrainian dance companies. Meaning ‘whirlwind’, Shumka is beloved for their colourful costumes and gravity-defying choreography. Having performed with the company for ten years starting at the age of 16, and having since directed and co-choreographed their hit show Mosquito’s Wedding in 2018, Les has played many roles within Shumka. We chatted about Ukrainian dance in Canada, Shumka’s plans for the season, and the importance of art in the sharing of cultures.
Tell us a little bit about Shumka and what it is you bring to the local Edmonton arts scene.
Shumka is a Ukrainian dance company here in Edmonton; we’ve been around for about 63 years now, so [we’re] long-standing members in the arts community here. We create Ukrainian dance and try and tell stories through Ukrainian dance. We continue to evolve the idea of what Ukrainian dance can and should be into the future. We create stories that will also appeal way beyond the Ukrainian community. You don’t need to be Ukrainian to come enjoy a Shumka show. The dance is exciting, the stories are on universal themes, and [it] will appeal to everybody.
Ukrainian-Canadian dance is said to be somewhat different from the dancing found back in Ukraine. Is there any particular way that Shumka differs?
There’s 130 years of history of Ukrainians in Canada, so there was a lot of evolution that happened here, especially during Soviet times when things weren’t so open. There was an evolution that happened here, and it’s obviously related back to a lot of the things in dance that were happening in Ukraine, and yet there was a style that evolved here. So we consider ourselves very proud to be a Ukrainian-Canadian dance company, and telling stories about that journey and that experience as well. It’s important for us to maintain our Canadian-ness, if you will, in what we do, because that is an important part of the story and an important part of the journey that we embrace. We continue to look back to Ukraine and work with them, collaborate—we have choreographers, costume designers, and set designers, and composers that we work with all the time from there, and yet we bring them here and help them understand what it is to tell stories here in Canada as well. It’s an interesting journey that’ll continue on well into the future.
What do you think it is about Ukrainian dance that disseminates this culture and these stories so well?
That’s a really good question. Edmonton, for whatever reason, is a unique place in Ukrainian dance, and there’s more Ukrainian dance in Edmonton and Alberta than anywhere else in the world other than Ukraine. The traditions of Ukrainian culture are very vibrant, and very celebratory in many ways, and the dance reflects that. I think that the music gets people tapping their toes, the dancing is entertaining, it draws audiences in, it shares the beauty of the culture with everyone. I think it’s important to maintain those traditions and continue to share them. Like I said, we want to share those with everybody and not just Ukrainians or Ukrainian-Canadians, share the beauty of the culture and we, particularly Shumka, do that through dance.
If people wanted to see a Shumka show for themselves, where would they be able to find you?
Into the fall, we are continuing on our Canadian tour, and we have dates in October back in Edmonton and dates in Calgary, and then we have some dates out east in Mississauga and hopefully Ottawa, and then we wrap up our tour in Victoria. So we’re all over the place over the next few months, and hopefully that gives people lots of opportunities to come see [the performances].
Shumka also operates a dance school; if someone was interested in learning Ukrainian dance for themselves, what programs does Shumka offer?
We have a dance school of over 200 students, we have summer camps that kids can get involved in as well—our summer camps are a great opportunity for kids to try it out fairly risk-free and see if it’s something they enjoy. We encourage all ages and abilities. People can find out more information [about the school] at shumka.com. We also have classes for seniors: we have a Ukrainian program and a Silver Swans ballet program for seniors, so we have programs for everybody. If you want to be involved, come to the offices, check out the website, show up… there’s something for everybody for sure.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with readers?
We’re just proud to be part of the arts community in Edmonton. Edmonton is this beautiful, giving community, and we feel we’re just one member of it. We share our gift, but there’s a beautiful arts and culture community in Edmonton, and we’re proud to be part of it.
Want to learn more about Ukrainian culture in Edmonton? Check out our July/August issue, available online and in print now!
