This year’s dance recital season in Manitoba hit different. Here are two organizations I know through Ukrainian dance, a hobby turned passion that changed my life, that you can donate to in support of Ukraine.
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While there are many reasons I fell in love with dance — the people you meet, the places you travel to, the dance steps you learn — music is what really set the hook for my interest in Ukrainian dance, and therefore my love of Ukrainian culture.
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Lately, Ukraine has been in the headlines every day in the Western world, many of the stories focusing on Donald Trump’s impeachment hearings, and others reporting from the front lines in Ukraine. If you’re looking for a bit more insight into Ukraine, here are some podcasts to help get you started.
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One year ago I flew from Ukraine to Canada. I purposely don’t say “flew home” because I don’t necessarily see Canada as my home. Well, it is one of my homes — it’s just not the only one, and saying “I flew home” implies that Ukraine wasn’t my home, which it most certainly was.
When I moved to Ukraine, I’d get these flashes of feelings from Canada, the most common instigator being when I saw someone in Ukraine who looked like a Canadian friend.
Maybe I was still adjusting to being so far from what I had known as home for all my life, and so I was looking for something to bring me comfort. This lasted a month, maybe two. And before you knew it, I would see Ukrainians who looked like other Ukrainians I had met in the city before.
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I take inspiration from anywhere I find it.
This can be from travel, from dance, from books and documentaries, from random things I come across during my day, and of course from people.
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Dance festival season is upon us.
It’s a time of year that has dancers practising their combos under their desks at school, costume coordinators working day in and day out making their volunteer position feel more like a full-time job, and instructors and choreographers feeling excited and nervous and stressed and proud and tired and energized — just so many feelings.
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Since October, I've been writing for What's On Kyiv, an English magazine about Ukraine based in Kyiv. Since this was only my second time in Ukraine, the idea for my WO column was to give a Canadian's take on the Ukrainian lifestyle.
Click the headlines in the post to read the full stories.
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Ukraine is full of history, traditions, and folklore, which I began to get familiar with after starting to Ukraine dance 25 years ago. Dance got me interested in Ukrainian culture and had me wanting to learn more. That's where books and films come in.
This is less of an extensive entertainment guide and more of a short, not-detailed list, since I read/watched some of these films/books a while ago, and to be honest, I don't necessarily remember a whole lot about them. But what I do remember is my love of them, which is why I want to share them with you.
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