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Ukrainian Dance Group Company Of Kiev U nder th e U.S.-Soviet C ultu ral E xchange agreem ent be tw een th e U nited S tates and th e Soviet U nion th e U krainian Dance Com pany of Kiev, com posed of some 100 dancers and directed by Pavlo V irsky, m ade th e ir initial appearance a t th e M etropolitan O pera House in New Y ork C ity and are now on an extensive to u r of th e U nited S tates and Canada. T heir to u r has evoked m uch press com m ent, of a laudatory n atu re, and considerable th o u g h t am ong U krainian A m ericans and Canadians. Those who saw th e dancers in action found them m uch to th e ir liking, including th e ir em otional expressiveness, th e well-nigh ac ro b atic w hirling and leaping of th e m en perform ing so-called U krainian folk dances, th e tro u p e ’s in terp re tatio n of a b eau tifu l needle-wom en’s dance, and th e colorful U krainian n a tive costum es. B ut th en a cautious note crept into th e th o u g h ts of th e onlook er. He rem em bered th a t in th e Soviet Union a rt and culture has alw ays been b u t an in stru m en t of Soviet R ussian Com m unist policy and in its developm ent, it has to adhere strictly to th e p a rty line. H ow ever th e folk dances w hich th e troupe presented actually lacked th a t folklore upon w hich th ey w ere originally based. A l tho u g h in some of them , as in “ G arland” th e re w as an echo of th e original ritu alistic cerem o nies, th ey w ere not developed well enough. They lacked th a t pow er of full expression of th e link -between th e p a st and th e p resen t and an appreciation of both. The m ajo rity of th e dances w ere presented ju s t fo r th e sake of en tertain m en t, w ith accent on fa s t m ovem ent and liveliness. The sam e applies to th e cos tum es w orn by th e dancers. The U krainian people possess in th e ir national costum e certain basic types w ithin w hich th ere are various v arian ts, w ith room fo r more. T his leaves th e door wide open fo r a costum e designer fo r m uch creativeness. B ut here th is w as not done. The em phasis was on gaudy and eye-catching col ors, w ith no a tte m p t being m ade to exhibit th e aesth etic side, w ith all of its nuances, of th e tru e U krainian national costume. This is b u t an illu stratio n of th e approach of th e K rem lin to U krainian culture, ju s t lig h t and colorful slides designed to am use one and w hich leave no lasting im pression. T his is w h at th e U k rain ian D ance Com pany of Kiev dares to do in th e nam e of U k rain ian culture! No hearkening back to tim es of yore! No tru e folklore cult! It is no wonder th en th a t John C hapm an asked in D enver’s R oundup of M ay 6, 1962 of th e group’s p erfo rm ance: “Is th is cu ltu re ?” The aforegoing p ertain s only to th e program p resen tatio n it self. The to u r of th e troupe has its political im plications too, no m a tte r th a t it is being held un der th e U. S.-Soviet C ultural ag reem ent. T here is not th e slig h t- ets doubt th a t in sending it to A m erica Moscow has an ulterior m otive. On th e eve of C aptive N ations Day, w ith effo rts being m ade to have a perm anent Cap tive N ations C om m ittee estab lished in th e Senate, th e to u r is supposed to dem onstrate how happy and content are th e peo ples under K rem lin rule. “Look, ‘W e A re from U kraine’, we have our own ballet, we are cu ltiv at ing tru ly and freely our U krain ian culture, our dances are an expression of our happiness and contentm ent, so how can you speak about enslavem ent and p ersecu tio n !” Then th ere is an o th er reason fo r th e sending of th is troupe to these shores. Today th e U k rainians in th e free world are prep arin g to expose to th a t world th e circum stances su r rounding th e assassination of tw o prom inent leaders in G er m any by Soviet agents. The a t tention of th e U krainian m asses is riveted upon th is event to come. The to u r of th e group is to d ivert th a t atten tio n into o th er channels, to find new in te r ests, to occupy th e U krainian A m erican m ind w ith nostalgic and sentim ental th o u g h ts, p e r haps even to soften th e in tra n sigent hostile a ttitu d e of U krain ians tow ard th e K rem lin enslav- ers of U kraine, and show them th a t th e stories about th e perse cution of U krainians and th e suppression of U krainian cultu ral life are b u t inventions of “bourgeois U krainian national ists.” Such are some of th e th o u g h ts associated w ith th e to u r here and in C anada of th is U krainian dancing group. Its to u r is an evident Red offensive ag ain st th e free world, w ith U krainians as th e p rim ary objective. The of fensive is well planned and in some ra re cases it m ay have al ready gained some ground am ong th e naive whose eyes have been bedazzled by th e loud costum es and th e acrobatics of th e dancers. S. S. 16 НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ — ЛИПВНЬ, 1962 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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