Anola Ukrainian dance group celebrates 40 years

When Rod Picklyk was asked 40 years ago by Lorraine Boitson to come and be a Ukrainian dance instructor, and eventual founder of Selo Ukrainian Dancers, little did he know that four decades later he would be celebrating the dance group’s anniversary.

“You know, it’s very special. I mean, quite simply put, looking back as we kind of prepared for this 40th celebration, you plow through pictures and videos and plan different events and meet some alumni and alumni families,” said Picklyck.

“And looking back, it’s quite gratifying and rewarding to see how many children have come through our hands over the years and learned a little piece of Ukrainian culture through the medium of dance….It’s hard to believe that 40 years has gone by, but it’s very gratifying when we look at all that we’ve accomplished.”

Picklyk and his wife Bonnie started instructing nine students in 1986 and that has grown to about a 100 students today, which includes their daughter Hannah who is also an instructor.

Selo means village in Ukrainian, which couldn’t be more appropriate for this dance group from Anola.

On May 23, they celebrated their 40th year with a show in Winnipeg depicting the history of Selo. Picklyk brought Selo’s alumni to perform with the younger dancers and he said it was really enjoyable for these past performers to reconnect with each other and to meet new ones from other eras.

“We had a lot of fun at rehearsals with them, some good laughs, and I think they found it at times to be challenging to kick up their heels again after maybe being out of dancing for a few years…,” he said jokingly. “In the end, I believe they had a lot of fun.”

The dance group has travelled all over Canada and the world sharing their love of Ukrainian dance and culture wherever they go and have even earned multiple awards for their craft.

One of the special moments for Picklyck and the group was being able to preform in Ukraine. He said the moment was powerful as this was the first time the group had been to the country where it all began. He said after the performances people would come up to the dancers in disbelief that there was Ukrainian dance in Canada.

“They just couldn’t believe that the culture is being kept alive through dance, in this case, so far away from their homeland. And so, we’d have little babas coming up to us at the end of the show and kind of asking us, ‘You’re Canadian, but you’re dancing Ukrainian? Why aren’t you Canadian dancing?’… I think they were quite surprised that the culture in Canada, so many miles away, is being kept up so strongly.”

Picklyk said he began learning Ukrainian dance when he was five years old. He became an experienced dancer in his late teens and eventually became an instructor.

“I’ll just say that the Ukrainian culture, specifically dance, it’s very rich. The costumes are very vibrant. Many different styles of costumes (and dance), depending on the region (oblasts) of Ukraine that the dance might be representing…,” said Picklyk, noting the music can be quite engaging.

“The steps themselves, you know, Ukrainian dance can be very spectacular at times with the ladies doing different spins across the stage, or perhaps guys and girls are doing different lifts, which can be quite impressive. And then the guys can be quite acrobatic with their style of dance.”

Picklyk said he and the other instructors try to have a theme with every show that tells a story and that creativity is one of the pillars of the group.

“Perhaps some dance groups do a recital at the end of the year and each of the dances are performed and displayed. I would say we do it a little bit differently in the fact that it becomes a bit of a production.”

For next year’s performance Picklyk said his family has not decided what the theme will be, but the group has had and will have a number of performances this summer. They had a showcase in Winnipeg in May, a performance at a convention in the beginning of June, and the beginning of this month they went to Vegreville, Alta., for the annual Pysanka Festival. In August, they will be performing for a week at Folkorama’s Kyiv Pavilion in Winnipeg.

Picklyk said it’s important to continue teaching and sharing Ukrainian dance and culture, especially considering the war in Ukraine.

“We definitely want to make sure we keep the culture strong and alive. And then the other thing I would say is, we feel very blessed that after four decades of doing this, that we’ve met so many great families and dancers. And now we’re at a point where we have dancers that have, of course, grown up and gotten married and have children and now those children are coming to dance.”