KAMSACK — Sadok Ukrainian dancers will be beginning their 19th dance season on Sept. 29 at the Kamsack Playhouse Theatre, starting at 6 p.m.
During the 2021-22 dance season, Sadok was busy learning dances from the regions of Poltava, Hutzulschynya, Zakarpatia, Bukovyna and Volyn, said a release from AnnaLee Parnetta, their instructor. The club had 23 dancers aged two to 19 years and they held a yearend concert in April at Kamsack Comprehensive Institute.
During the year, the dancers were fortunate to be able to dance weekly at the Kamsack Playhouse, Parnetta said. The club’s members thank the Playhouse board for allowing the group to continue to be actively dancing, even during times of health restrictions in compliance to various protocols during the last two years.
Members of the club look forward to another year of dance at the Playhouse.
With their hard work during the year, the junior, intermediate and senior dancers attended and participated in two provincial dance competitions. In March, the dancers went to Regina to partake in Tavria’s 30th Ukrainian Dance Festival and Competition and in early May, the group participated in Yorkton Kalyna’s 21st Ukrainian Dance Festival. The dancers brought back some well-earned medals and marks from both competitions.
“Special congratulations goes out to two groups from attending Yorkton Kalyna Festival,” she said. The Junior A dancers, consisting of Aubree Boudreau, Maelie Hilderman, Wilder Lawless, Lily Leis and Piper Sas, earned a mark of 90 for a tambourine Poltava dance and were awarded the highest mark for an open dance entry for dancers aged 12 years and under.
The second group, consisting of senior dancers Finley Hudye, Haven Krawetz, Meesha Romanuik and Marz Romanuik, earned an award for highest mark small or large group Hutzul dance for ages 13 and up, with a mark of 84.
“Congratulations dancers!”
Club members are looking forward to continuing on with the celebration of Ukrainian dance and culture in the Kamsack community and are inviting any children, ages three and up, to attend their open house on Sept. 29, starting at 6 p.m. at the Kamsack Playhouse, she said. “One does not have to be Ukrainian to be able to Ukrainian dance; all one needs is the enthusiasm to learn to dance and share their excitement with others.”
AnnaLee Parnetta said she will be returning as instructor for the dance year and is ready to celebrate Ukrainian dance and culture with the dancers and their families.
Parnetta is a full-time teacher at Sacred Heart High School in Yorkton during the day and will be bringing her 47 years of Ukrainian dance experience back to Kamsack every Thursday evening. As a Ukrainian dance instructor, AnnaLee has taught in Kamsack, Yorkton and Swan River since 2004 and was the founder of Sadok in 2004. Along with teaching dance in Kamsack, she is also the adult Ukrainian dance instructor and dancer with Yorkton Kalyna Ukrainian Dance adult group in Yorkton. Her dance career began in Yorkton in 1975, at the age of six, as a member of Yorkton Kalyna. As a young adult, she lived in Winnipeg and Regina, where she continued her Ukrainian dance career.
Parnetta said that her most memorable dance experiences were with the Dauphin Ukrainian Cossacks and Company’s 25th anniversary performance in 1997 at the Canadian National Ukrainian Festival in Dauphin, and the second was to dance in Ukraine with Tavria Ukrainian Folk Dance Ensemble in the summer of 2000.
She has been trained in the Level 1 syllabus with Shumka Ukrainian Dance of Edmonton, B. Zerebecky Ukrainian Dance Syllabus, and has a degree in education.
The Sadok executive is looking forward to another great year of Ukrainian dance in the community and invites everyone to come and celebrate Ukrainian dance and culture.
“Slava Ukraini!”
