Skip to content
Call Us Today! 212-533-4646 | MON-FRI 12PM - 4PM (EST)
DONATE
SUBSCRIBE
Search for:
About Us
Publications
FAQ
Annual Report 2023
Annual Report 2022
Annual Report 2021
Initiatives
Advocate
Educate
Cultivate
Care
News
Newsletters
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Join UNWLA
Become a Member
Volunteer With Us
Donate to UNWLA
Members Portal
Calendar
Shop to Support Ukraine
Search for:
Print
Print Page
Download
Download Page
Download Right Page
Open
1
2-3
4-5
6-7
8-9
10-11
12-13
14-15
16-17
18-19
20-21
22-23
24-25
26-27
28-29
30-31
32-33
34-35
36-37
38-39
40
30 WWW.UNWLA.ORG “НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, КВІТЕНЬ 2016 ONE RIVER, MANY STREAMS by Marianna Szczawinsky Crans, Branch 95 Each year, on the last weekend in September, the city of Beacon, located in the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York, celebrates “Spirit of Beacon.” On that day, Main Street is closed to traffic, and the local com- munity hosts an elaborate parade with floats, marchers, and bands celebrating all the various schools, churches, city departments, civic groups, and organizations that make up the community. Everyone is recognized on this occasion, making this a true and inclusive home-town celebration. This event coin- cides with the local Strawberry festival and thus includes a variety of food vendors, entertainment, as well as the “One River, Many Streams Folk Festival.” One River, Many Streams is presented by Arts Mid-Hudson, a nonprofit arts service organization that promotes art and programs cultural events locally, with support from member donors and from lo- cal, regional, and state funding. The annual folk festival showcases craft and performance traditions, each presented by members of various area ethnic and cultural communities. In addition to stage per- formances, there are numerous booths where community representatives present hands-on craft dis- plays reflecting traditions of their respective cultures. UNWLA Branch 95 has been a proud participant in this annual event, eagerly sharing many dif- ferent aspects of our Ukrainian culture and art forms. The 2015 festival heralded the return of the oft- requested Ukrainian Dancers, much to the delight of our members and Arts Mid-Hudson Folklorist Dr. Polly Adema. This year’s event featured a rousing performance by the amazing Tsvitka Dance Troupe from Sloatsburg, N.Y. The troupe practices and performs under the direction of Andrij Cybyk, a profes- sional dancer, trainer and choreographer, who studied under the great Roma Pryma Bohachevsky. As in previous years, the dancers amazed onlookers with their dancing skills and authentic beau- tiful costumes as they performed a variety of regional dances, seamlessly incorporating several costume changes into their repertoire as needed. The delighted spectators responded to the lively music and intricate dance steps with loud and en- thusiastic applause. It must be noted that Arts Mid-Hudson always prepares and distributes a lovely pro- gram booklet with information about the dance groups and their dance traditions, and about the differ- ent ethnic organizations doing hands-on demos and the cultural art forms shared during the event; this year, our Tsvitka dancers were featured on the cover! Branch 95’s contribution to the event included a booth with several hands-on cultural activities for children. During the day, branch members taught children how to write their names in Ukrainian on beautiful book marks adorned with traditional Ukrainian embroidery designs. We also taught the children about the meaning behind the different designs and the colors used on our famed pysanky. The children enjoyed using markers on painted wooden disks to replicate the de- signs and create pysanka magnets to take home as a keepsake of the festival. We also supplied a word game embossed with the image of a Hopak dancer and handed out coloring pages of dancers and pysanky. One crowd-pleasing favorite we incorporated into our display was a Hopak mural that people could pose with and have their picture taken. This was a big hit with visitors of all ages, a real selfie mag- net! Enjoying another late summer afternoon, participating in a lovely community event, and sharing our culture was a truly nice way to live up to our UNWLA goals. We worked hard and had fun and en- joyed a feeling of accomplishment. But this story cannot end without a note of appreciation about our “Branch Husbands” who chipped in with set-up and marked our location with a beautiful Ukrainian flag. A special note of thanks also goes to photographer Lori Adams, who so skillfully captured the highlights of our work in pictures. Another word of thanks goes to our friend Polly Adema and Arts Mid-Hudson for giving us the opportunity to be a part of this global neighborhood again. We look forward to participating again this year!
Page load link
Go to Top
1 
2-3 
4-5 
6-7 
8-9 
10-11 
12-13 
14-15 
16-17 
18-19 
20-21 
22-23 
24-25 
26-27 
28-29 
30-31 
32-33 
34-35 
36-37 
38-39 
40 
