The first feature-length documentary on Ukrainian dance in North America is set to screen in select Canadian and U.S. cities, capturing on film the dance traditions of one of the oldest immigrant groups in both countries.
Titled Folk! the documentary features Ukrainian prima ballerina Roma Pryma Bohachevsky, among the first to introduce ballet-style Ukrainian folk dance to North America. Bohachevsky studied and performed classical ballet in Lviv, Ukraine, and graduated from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Her artistry paved the road to venues in Paris, London, New York, Toronto and many more.
Following World War II, Bohachevsky settled in the U.S. where she focused on Ukrainian dance. She opened dance schools, founded an ensemble called Syzokryli, and started summer camps.
“Basically when I met her, I couldn’t believe that no one had actually done a film about her,” said Folk!’s New York-based director Roxy Toporowych.
From a young age, Toporowych was exposed to Ukrainian folk dancing in her home town of Parma, Ohio. She danced every Saturday and during her spare time shot videos about it. Eventually her filmmaking hobby led her to New York City where she attended Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.
“I quit dancing when I moved to New York just to focus on school. And I ran into Andrij Cybyk who was working with Roma and who was her right hand man,” Toporowych said.
At the time, Cybyk was the assistant artistic director at Syzokryli. He was one of the few dancers who worked for the company and danced under Bohachevsky. Others included Orlando Pagan, a Puerto Rican from the Bronx.
Like Toporowych, Cybyk started dancing in Ohio at Kashtan School of Dance. To date he has performed with the world renowned Virsky Ukrainian National Dance Company and toured the globe with over 10 dance companies, including the Riverdance production.
“He kind of convinced me to come back and to start taking classes,” said Toporowych.
“I wasn’t sure what I was going to do,” said Toporowych. “I got permission and I spoke with her family and with Andrij and Orlando and everybody said, ‘Go ahead keep shooting.’ And I wasn’t sure what it was going to turn into.”
So she kept on filming. During rehearsal days she brought her ballet slippers and the camera. At alumni workshops she grabbed people between classes or in the hallways to shoot interviews.
“It was a lot of work. ... I worked full time. Managing everything was not easy but I managed it—there was no option but to make it happen for me.”
Folk! took about 10 years to complete. Toporowych took her camera to rehearsal in 2001 and two years later, decided to make a feature film. After the footage was complete in 2004, it took another six years to produce the documentary.
“When you work on a project this long there comes a point where you’re just sick of it, and you can’t look at it, you can’t watch it. And you’re so overwhelmed by the amount of work that you can’t even stomach thinking about it,” Toporowych said.
“Then you get past that. Then you start realizing that, you know, I made something, and I produced it and it took lots of blood and tears and a long time and I should be proud of it and I should love it.”
Shot in English, Folk! will screen in Toronto on Feb. 26 at 4:00 p.m. at Revue Cinema. The documentary will screen in Saskatoon on March 3 and Edmonton on March 4.
Tickets for the Toronto screening are $10 and can be purchased at the door or pre-ordered by contacting [email protected]. The film is also available on DVD. For more information, visit kinorox.com.
The documentary will also screen in Minneapolis, Minn. on March 12 and in Rochester, N.Y. on March 19.
