 UKRAINIAN SHUMKA DANCERS Shumka, which means whirlwind, presents full-length, dance theatre touring productions as well as intimate concert repertoire across Canada and around the world. These productions marry the genre of Ukrainian dance with classical and contemporary movement to create dramatic storylines, which have become recognized as a unique Shumka style.
Under the guidance of Artistic Director, Gordon Gordey and Associate Artistic Director, Dave Ganert, Shumka has taken artistic risks in order to achieve recognition for its mandate and to bring our dance theatre style to diverse audiences from coast to coast. The group’s popularity and success is evident in the relative synonymity of the name “Shumka” with “Ukrainian dance”. Recognized as a flagship of world dance, world-class choreographers, such as Viktor Lytvynov, have been honored to work with the company’s 50 dancers, acknowledging Shumka’s standing as worthy of their individual art.
 Shumka endeavours its’ audiences to be moved by an aesthetic and creative dance vocabulary that engages their emotions and explores the human spirit. Its’ broad based audience knows that Shumka deeply respects its dance heritage, but expects Shumka to continually push the boundaries of excellence and creativity. In 2004 Sulyma Productions Inc. toured Shumka’s Cinderella in China to rave reviews after a very successful world premier in 2000 when Cinderella toured across Canada. Deirdre Kelly of Toronto’s Globe and Mail said, “Everyone of the dancers is a virtuoso (Shumka’s) $2 million remake of the fairy-tale classic is a mega dance spectacle that promises to do for Ukrainian folk dance what Riverdance did for Irish stepping: Catapult it into the big time… As they say on the Great White Way, this baby’s got legs.”
Within the ecology of world dance, Shumka sees itself as a participant in an international context and, as such, works with Producer, Sulyma Productions Inc. (SPI) and has participated in SPI’s THE NUTCRACKER, a ballet fantasy since 1997. In a unique, international pas de deux, artists of Shumka and Ukraine’s Kyiv Ballet of the National Opera of Ukraine were brought together by SPI to bring a sumptuous million dollar version of the Nutcracker to audiences throughout Eastern Canada and the United States. In 2002 Shumka was thrilled to perform excerpts of SPI’s Nutcracker in the touring extravaganza, “A Royal Christmas” which starred Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Charlotte Church and for which Shumka received rave reviews.
Shumka is proud to be the benchmark spirit of Ukrainian dance and proud to inspire every dancer who has taken flight to realize the performance of their dreams. |
