How could we support communities of New Scots to shape and share their stories? As one of the three founding members of TRACS, Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland initiated To Ukraine with Love – a project aimed at supporting the community of displaced people from Ukraine in Edinburgh to shape and share the story of their newly adopted home through Ukrainian folk dance, choral music and stories of migration.
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Let’s rewind back to April 2022 and our inaugural Pomegranates Festival when we started our research into Scotland’s Ukrainian diaspora which dates back to the First World War and beyond. In times of uncertainty, displacement and border restrictions, our Pomegranates Festival has sprung to celebrate and amplify the contributions of creative migrants in Scotland. Whether they migrated from Ukraine and elsewhere, or were first or second-generation immigrants born in Scotland, these were artists whose family histories or migratory experiences had enriched both their practice and the wider Scottish artistic panorama, including traditional dance. The words of Ian McMillan, a poet of Scottish heritage, resonated with us:
“Uncertainty
Is the new certainty
Displacement
Is the new stability
And language’s ability
To comprehend
Is starting to bend
And crack.”
Portrait of Ella Moore by Iliyana Nedkova. Headdress in tribute to Ukrainian traditional dance artists courtesy of costume designer Fiona Rose Gregory
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Yet, in April 2022 our initial curatorial search failed. No mater how far and wide we looked, we couldn’t find any creative migrants from Ukraine who fled their country, carrying hardly anything but their passion for Ukrainian traditional dance across borders and battlefields to reach Scotland. What we were able to do, instead, was to commission a new headdress in tribute to the Ukrainian traditional dance artists courtesy of floral designer Fiona Rose Gregory. This spectacular Ukrainian trad craft-inspired headdress was brought to life as part of our Pomegranates Promanade finale by the Scottish dancer Ella Moore. Spot Ella’s Ukrainian folk dance set on the stage as part of our Promenade video highlights here.
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Portrait of Alena Rogozhkina by Tiu Makkonen. Alena performing at the vernisssage of Consequences. Art and Activism in the Nuclear Age
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Undeterred, we persevered with our curatorial search until August 2022 when we crossed paths with Alena Rogozhkina – the only Scotland-based Ukrainian-born artist exhibiting as part of the show Consequences. Art and Activism in the Nuclear Age at the Out of the Blue Drill Hall – the community arts space dubbed ‘the beating heart of Leith’. As a recent graduate of Leith School of Art and a qualified cognitive psychologist, Alena was best placed to connect us with the Ukrainian community in Edinburgh while leading creative community projects in partnership with organisations like Peace & Justice (Scoland) and AUGB (Edinburgh Ukrainian Community Club).
“Co-creating together with adults and children affected by monstrous circumstances or humanitarian disasters means the world to me. What I love about facilitating creative experiences with displaced and disadvantaged communities is that there is no room for inequality or racism. We use art as a way to connect and share who we truly are regardless our previous backgrounds, language, gender, origin or limited beliefs.”
Alena Rogozhkina
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Portrait of Anastasiia Boiko and Oksana Saiapina by Eleanor Sinclair. Delivering a workshop of Ukrainian folk dance at Pomegranates Festival in April 2023 at St. Leonard’s Studio, Moray House School of Education and Sport
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It was Alena who kindly conducted the search for professionally trained folk dance artists on our behalf and soon introduced us to two feisty women – Oksana Saiapina and Anastasiia Boiko, who both fled Ukraine in April 2022 and since settled in Edinburgh. A year later, In April 2023, Oksana and Anastasia met, taught and performed for the first time together at our Pomegranates Festival, acclaimed as “a rhythmic wonderland of vibrant folk dances and melodies spanning almost all continents” by art critic Inesa Vėlavičiūtė.
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While Oksana has led a dance studio training young people for over 15 years and won high-level competition awards, Anastasiia is currently studying remotely and about to graduate from Serge Lyfar Kyiv Municipal Academy of Dance in Ukraine. In Edinburgh, they have been teaching dance classes at the Ukrainian Cummunity Centre to some of the 800 displaced children.
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If Pomegranates 2023 was Oksana and Anastasiia debut on the Edinburgh festival stage, a month later came the 10th anniversary of the Harpies, Fechters and Quines Festival. We curated two more Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland presentations by Oksana and Anastasiia celebrating the role of women as tradition keepers and dance innovators in our contemporary world.
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Portrait of Anastasiia Boiko and Oksana Saiapina by Iliyana Nedkova. Performing at Harpies, Fechters and Quines Festival 2023, Edinburgh Central Library
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For Harpies, Fechters and Quines Festival Oksana and Anastasiia selected and performed a set of Ukrainian folk dance duets, including Hoptsa Dritsa, a dance full of humour and cheek, as well as Hutsulska, a dance based on a folk tune with Scottish motifs. These popular and fast-paced trad dances of Ukraine soon got nearly everybody on their feet. The two dances were preceded by Soul Flower – a choreographed dance, set to music with lyrics by Diane Golde and composition by Kostyantyn Meladze. Always advocating for live music and dance whenever possible, we were pleased to welcome the Ukrainian Community Choir Oberig led by Karina Cherviakova to accompany the duo perform Soul Flower creating collaborative magic on stage.
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Ukrainian Community Choir Oberig led by Karina Cherviakova (centre) with Anastasiia Boiko and Oksana Saiapina performing at at Harpies, Fechters and Quines Festival. Image by Barrie Barretto
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In the words of the professional singer and conductor Karina Cherviakova:
“We were honoured to support the two dancers Oksana and Anastasiia with members of Oberig Choir at Harpies, Fechters and Quines Festival. This was our first collaboration with Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland and we are already planning our next. Although our choir was reinvented under the new name of Oberig (meaning ‘talisman/amulet’ in Ukrainian) in November 2022, it was established by Ukrainian emigrants who came to Edinburgh after the Second World War. Some of these founding members are still performing with us!”
Karina Cherviakova
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In addition, we took a deep dive in the harrowing stories of struggle, support and solidarity with Tanya Balanova, a Ukrainain humanitarian aid worker Tanya contextualised the plight of the Ukrainian community in Scotland, including Oksana and Anastasiia – just two of the over 1000 displaced people housed on MS Victoria I passenger ship, docked in Edinburgh’s Leith Harbour. This sobering talk and call for action was moderated by Prof. Yvonne McEwan, one of the founders of the Harpies, Fechters and Quines Festival.
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Prof. Yvonne McEwan in conversation with Tanya Balanova at Harpies, Fechters and Quines Festival. Image by Barrie Barretto
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In line with our TRACS focus on minority cultures and languages, we also sought the support of Olena Singh, an aspiring cultural manager of Oberig Choir and interpreter from and to the Ukrainian. If the 2011 Scottish Census found that more than 150 languages other than English are used in Scottish homes, including Gaelic, Scots, BSL and Nawken (or ‘gypsies/travellers’), we believe that Ukrainian will feature high in the next Census.
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Missed the in-person trad dance experience at the Harpies, Fechters and Quines Festival? Head over to our Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland YouTube Channel where together with our videographer Barrie Barretto we created a playlist with all the songs, stories and dances shared at the festival for all to watch and listen. Tune into our Harpies, Fechters and Quines Festival 2023 YouTube Playlist here.
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Iliyana Nedkova and Olena Singh introducing The Feisty Trad Dance Artists of Ukraine performances at at Harpies, Fechters and Quines Festival. Image by Barrie Barretto
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As our project To Ukraine with Love continues to evolve we are fostering a collaboration with Moray House School of Education and Sport, as well as Dance Base, Scotland’s National Centre for Dance to enable not only Oksana and Anastasiia but also another professionally trained trad dancer Tetiana Hordiienko to maintain their professional development by taking regular dance classes.
In addition, we are also mentoring the trio of Ukrainian dancers to devise and lead their own classes in character dance. A specific subdivision of classical dance, character dance is a stylized form of a traditional dance which uses movements and music adapted for the theatre stage. It is underrepresented across Scotland and we do hope that this mini-revival will be well received. Stay tuned for the next chapter in ourTo Ukraine with Love project. It’s promising to be full of character…dance.
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Oksana Saiapina and Anastasiia Boiko leading a workshop in Ukrainian folk dance at Pomegranates 2023 Festival. Image by Barrie Barretto
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To Ukraine with Love is curated by Wendy Timmons and Iliyana Nedkova on behalf of TRACS and Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland. It is supported by Scottish Community Alliance’s Pockets and Prospects Fund
