After three days of dancing and over 100 individual dances, it was time to hand out awards.
The 42nd annual Svoboda Dance Festival, held in the Don Ross Centre April 27 to 29 gave out a total of 78 awards to the 10 different dance schools who participated. The Svoboda Dancers, from the Battlefords, received a total of 42 of these awards and tied for three. The Saskatoon School of dance received a total of 12 awards and tied for three.
Kristina Washchyshyn, a graduate of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School's teacher training program, was the adjudicator. In addition to her classical training, she has extensive experience in Ukrainian dance, working as director of the Sopilka School of Dance and as a lead instructor at Troyanda Ukrainian Dance Ensemble.
Unlike the other awards, the adjudicator's choice awards were not restricted to a single category.
Meghan Gallagher received the Youth Dance Ambassador Award. The award includes complimentary membership to Dance Saskatchewan, free tuition to applicable workshops and master classes in 2012 and exposure on the Dance Saskatchewan website. The award is open to anyone over the age of 12. Meghan, who is with the Saskatoon School of Dance, danced in the categories of Hutsul female large group, Volyn female large group and Central Ukraine female solo.
Receiving the award for best costuming complementing choreography were the Two Hill Ukrainian Dancers, from Two Hills, Alta. The group receiving the award danced in the category of Hopak mixed large group for 15- to 16-year-olds.
Sonya Horner, with the Saskatoon School of Dance, received the SDFA award for excellence in the art of designing dance. She received it for the dance she choreographed in the category of Hutzul female large group, ages 17 to 18.
The Balych Trophy and Klima Family Award was presented to two dancers, both from the Saskatoon School of Dance, who tied for the highest mark in the festival. Meghan Gallagher and Ashlyn Hartshorn both received near-perfect scores of 96, tying them for the $200 prize.
Finally, the Vegreville Ukrainian Pysanka Festival Scholarship Award, for the highest mark in Transcarpathian Dance large mixed group, was presented to the Svoboda Dancers intermediate group. The group will perform July 7 at the 39th Annual Ukrainian Pysanka Festival in Vegreville.
