Submitted by Adam Fetsch
The Yorkton Kalyna Dance club recently completed a very successful year.
The club began competitions in Russell Manitoba April 8 - 10 where the Yachminka club hosted its 17 annual Ukrainian Dance competition.
Kalyna had many excellent performances in Russell and ended up receiving three trophies compliments of Angela and Jonathan Fetsch. Angela and Jonathan's Under Six years Poltava duet won trophies for the Highest Mark solo, duet, or trio, Highest Mark Family, and also picked up the Spirit of the Dance award.
A week later, April 15 - 17, Kalyna competed at the Saskatoon PFE dance competition. The club again performed very well. The Skorobohach/Brinley families has the privilege of being asked to dance their small group Poltava in the Showcase on Saturday night which featured highlight dances from the weekend.
The Fetsch family (Anthony, Ben, Nicholas and Rita) picked up the Family trophy for the Highest Mark Family for their Small group Poltava. Scholarships were won by Angela and Jonathan Fetsch for the Highest Mark Mixed duet, Ben and Nicholas Fetsch for the Highest Mark Male duet , Jesse and Zachary Todos for Male duet, Adjudicators Choice and by Group 3 (Emma Brinley, Gracie Cookson, Taylor Dietrich, Emma Jones, Braden Kitchen, Kaitlyn Klemetski, Paige Onufreychuk, Lilianna Skorobohach, Katelyn Spilchuk, Jesse Todos, Shaylee Valuck) for Large Group: Highest Mark, "Polissia" Class 9-10 yrs.
Kalyna then moved on to host their own competition in Yorkton April 28 - May 1. This was the tenth annual competition for the club. The club was very pleased to be able to host 28 other clubs. Despite the snow storm that occurred, the competition went on as scheduled. Kalyna appreciated the patience and understanding demonstrated by all clubs. Group 3 dancers (Emma Brinley, Gracie Cookson, Taylor Dietrich, Emma Jones, Braden Kitchen, Kaitlyn Klemetski, Leysha Ochitwa, Ruslana Ochitwa, Paige Onufreychuk, Lilianna Skorobohach, Katelyn Spilchuk, Jesse Todos, Shaylee Valuck) won a scholarship for 12 years and under Most Promising, and Chelsey Dubnyk and Kayla Manovich won a scholarship for Highest Mark Female duet.
Kalyna says good-bye to four dancers who will be graduating this year: Chelsey Dubnyk, Taylor Fink, Kayla Manovich, and Kelsy Yaremko. They also say thanks for the excellent instruction provided by Serhiy and Lianna Zabutnyy and Brittany Holowatuik.
Overall, the 80 Kalyna dancers who performed at the competitions represented the city of Yorkton and surrounding area very well.
The competitions provide an opportunity to showcase their talent but more importantly, they provide an opportunity for the dancers to preserve an important part of the Ukrainian culture.
