Ukrainian
Culture
Innovator and Enricher, a Story of Passion and Dedication
by Tymothy Jaddock
This fall I was tasked with researching Chester Kuc, founder of the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers and Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company (both leaders in North American Ukrainian dance) an acclaimed pysanka writer and a petty point expert. Chester’s contributions to the Ukrainian community are vast, each of them distinctly Ukrainian and distinctly Chester.
In the year nineteen hundred thirty-one Chester Myroslav Kuc was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Growing up in ‘little Ukraine’ an area of downtown Edmonton densely populated with individuals of Ukrainian decent, Chester’s connection to the community began. Chester’s family (second wave immigrants) resided in an apartment on the second level of the Ukrainian National Federation (UNF) Hall. Although Chester’s mother would have enjoyed a house of her own, Chester’s father was extremely dedicated to the Ukrainian cause and enjoyed living in such an important community gathering point. As a child, Chester would often wander downstairs watching the various choir and play rehearsals taking place in the hall. As he grew older, Chester became increasingly involved in the Ukrainian community saying that he “had an overwhelming sense that involvement in Ukrainian organizations was a must.”
In 1938, the well-travelled Vasyl Avramenko arrived in Edmonton to teach Ukrainian dance. As a supporter of all things Ukrainian, Chester’s father promptly enrolled him in Avramenko’s dance classes. Chester was a fast learner and at the age of eight years old was given the opportunity to perform in a large concert. Shortly after his stage debut, Chester entered a competition and was awarded the second place trophy for his dancing.
As was typical of Vasyl Avramenko he was soon ready to move onto another city, continuing his dissemination of Ukrainian dance across the Canadian prairies. When Avramenko left a city, he would place one of his star pupils in charge to continue the dance instruction. Dance was one of the only mediums able to transcend the severe divide between Orthodox and Catholic members of the community; both of them willingly sent their children to learn from Avramenko and his instructors. The idea of transcending barriers is one that stuck with Chester.
With a thirst for learning anything Ukrainian, Chester began attending ‘ kursy (courses)’ in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Theses seminar like courses would run for six weeks at a time and would conclude with a concert showcasing various elements of Ukrainian culture. While in Winnipeg, Chester had the opportunity to see the Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble perform. He noted that Rusalka was a very strong group that had made a conscious decision to move away from the Avramenko style. This intrigued Chester. Shortly thereafter, Chester saw a Ukrainian folk ballet, which was folk dance with ballet elements. This really impressed Chester and he began thinking that Ukrainian Canadians needed to move away from the Avramenko style of Ukrainian dance and embrace some more variation within the art.
The Avramenko style of Ukrainian dance consisted of a set repertoire of 10 to 12 dances. Each dance highlighted a different Ukrainian ritual, region, or part of history. Avramenko’s goal was to promote a select few dances as symbols of Ukrainian identity, he wanted Ukrainians from New York and Toronto to know the same dances as Ukrainians from Winnipeg and Edmonton etc. Avramenko was very strict about authenticity and he demanded his repertoire be duplicated without variation. Avramenko saw Ukrainian dance as a tool to propagate Ukrainian Nationalism rather than an art form that was to develop technically and with variation.
As an emerging leader in the Ukrainian dance community, Chester began to deviate from the Avramenko style. Soon after he began doing this, Virsky (the premier Ukrainian folk dance company in Ukraine) toured North America. After Chester saw Virsky dance, he said to himself “Oh good god, we are so primitive.” This immediately established that ballet training needed to be integrated into Canadian Ukrainian dance.
Innovation and enrichment of Ukrainian dance soon came to the forefront of Chester’s position within the art form. Recognizing the essential need for ballet training, Chester hired a Hungarian trained ballet instructor and immediately implemented ballet barre into his warm ups. Chester anticipated deviation from the Avramenko style would be rejected by the community. Surprisingly, Ukrainian’s were very much in favour of the changes, as many had become bored with Avramenko’s small repertoire.
Seeing a need for the dissemination of ‘non-Avramenko’ Ukrainian dance in Edmonton, Chester began teaching at parishes across the city. At one point he was so busy teaching dance that most weeknights he would come home from work, eat dinner, and spend the rest of the evening teaching dance.
In 1959, Chester began to assess where Ukrainian dance was heading, he came to the realization that Ukrainian dance was not being exposed to the general public to a sufficient degree. It was enjoyed and performed strictly by members of the Ukrainian community. Understanding that the longevity of the art form would be greatly hampered if it remained this way, Chester decided to bring Ukrainian dance to the stage of the Northern Jubilee Auditorium.
To make this a reality, Chester assembled the best dancers from each of his dance schools and be began rehearsing with them. This newly formed group of dancers was given the name ‘Shumka.’ In order to diversify Shumka’s repertoire Chester would read steps from printed dance publications and try to figure out how they worked . He’s quoted saying ‘that was a real picnic.’
In the fall of 1960 with a $400.00 loan from his father and the newly formed Shumka Dancers, Chester rented the Northern Jubilee Auditorium and successfully put on Shumka’s first major performance. This show attracted 1200 audience members and began to expose Ukrainian dance to a wider audience.
Working tirelessly to enrich the Ukrainian dance experience Chester began to research Ukrainian folk costumes, he made plakhtas from Chesterfield covers and engaged dancers’ parents to sew costumes, all helping bring vibrancy and colour to the stage. Chester worked collaboratively with the conductor of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Gene Zwozdesky to bring live music and professional orchestrations of Ukrainian dance music into Shumka’s performances. As Chester toured with Shumka across Canada, Ukrainian dance began to make a name for itself. Chester worked with Shumka for ten years before moving on to his next project, Cheremosh.
In 1969 with Chester at the helm, the Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company was born. Cheremosh, like Shumka, held shows at the Jubilee. Wanting to differentiate themselves from Shumka, Cheremosh gained a reputation as a regional dance company, deviating from the traditional Hutzul and Poltava styles typically performed by Shumka. Chester worked with his dancers to bring in choreography from the Volyn, Zakarpattia, and Bukovyna regions of Ukraine. After 10 years with Cheremosh, Chester hung up his dance boots once and for all.
Chester’s impact on Ukrainian dance is undeniable. His ability to foresee the need to innovate and enrich folkdance and his unwavering dedication to make it happen are impressive. A little bit of Chester’s innovation takes the stage every time Shumka and Cheremosh perform Hopak as both companies still don his Hopak costume designs today.
