Vasyl Avramenko

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Lore & Background

Vasyl Avramenko was born on March 22, 1895, in Stebliv, a townlet on the Ros' river approximately 100 km south of Kyiv. Orphaned at a young age, he wandered homeless as an adolescent until he headed east, crossed Imperial Russia, and reunited with his older brothers in Vladivostok. There, his eldest brother taught him to read and write, enabling him to gain employment at the naval base. As a crewman on Russian naval vessels, he visited several major Asian ports. In 1912, he saw a production of Ivan Kotlyarevsky's operetta Natalka Poltavka in Vladivostok, which he later recounted as his first experience of viewing fellow Ukrainians on stage. After passing teacher's exams at Vladivostok men's gymnasium in 1915, he was drafted into the Russian Imperial Army, assigned to the 4th Heavy Artillery Regiment, then reassigned to the Irkutsk military school for ensigns, and later to the 35th Siberian Infantry Regiment. He was wounded and hospitalized in Minsk and Petrograd, where he visited theaters and became active in a troupe of military actors led by Yasha Vavrak. In Kyiv, in summer 1917, Avramenko attended three of Vasyl Verkhovynets' lectures on Ukrainian folk dance, taking copious notes that he later developed into his life's work. By spring 1919, he was briefly in Stanyslaviv with Yosyf Standnyk's theatre before joining Mykola Sadovsky's troupe. He served in the Central Telegraph Administration of the Ukrainian People's Republic. When UNR forces retreated west in 1919–20, he remained in Soviet occupied territory, working with Ukrainian itinerant troupes, and was arrested and interned in Kalisz. In February 1921, he established a school of Ukrainian folk dancing in the Kalisz camp—the first of more than 100 schools over the next 20 years across Europe and North America. He began with 100 students, teaching basic steps and whole dances, and put on a celebrated performance on May 24. That fall, he met Oleksandr Koshyts, who remarked: 'I was invited to attend a ballet performance by Avramenko's school. The ballet was marvellous: it was simply impossible to believe that such an exacting and artistic work could be created out of our dance!' Avramenko toured with students through Polish-ruled western Ukraine, visiting Lviv, Rivne, Lutsk, Kremenets, Oleksandriia, Mezhirich, Chełm, Brest-Litovsk, Stryi, Stanyslaviv, Kolomyia, Przemyśl, Deliatyn, Ternopil, and Drohobych. In December 1925, Avramenko arrived in Halifax, Canada, determined to tour North America. He opened his first North American dance school in Toronto at St. Mary's Roman Catholic hall. He arrived in Winnipeg in January 1927, and on April 30, 275 of his pupils performed at Winnipeg's amphitheatre. Schools quickly opened across the prairies in Saskatoon, Yorkton, and Edmonton. On June 16, 1928, he married Pauline Garbolinsky, a star dance pupil from Winnipeg, and soon moved to New York City. In New York, he set up his school in Little Ukraine, and within a few months had over 500 pupils. He staged a performance at the Metropolitan Opera with 500 dancers, a chorus of 100 singers, and a folk orchestra. The New York Evening Post gave it a rave review, calling it 'a brilliant Ukrainian folk festival.' By October 1933, Avramenko was in Hollywood, obtaining loans and donations from Ukrainian communities along the way.

Reader's Guide

Avramenko's significance lies in his systematic propagation of Ukrainian folk dance as an art form. From a single school in a Polish internment camp in February 1921, he expanded to more than 100 schools across Europe and North America over the next 20 years. He impressed on his pupils that Ukrainian folk dancing could be an art form. In Canada, he traveled from town to town, teaching the same dances and assigning a leader to continue teaching residents. One of these leaders was Chester Kuc, who later founded the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers in 1959 and Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company in 1969. Avramenko's school inculcated pupils with Ukrainian pride and identity. Despite lacking business acumen—he had debts in excess of three thousand dollars upon leaving Canada—his missionary zeal and love of Ukrainian culture earned him the title 'Father of Ukrainian Dance'. His legacy is that of a tireless impresario who brought Ukrainian folk dance to grandstands of up to twenty-five thousand spectators at the Canadian National Exhibition and to the stage of the Metropolitan Opera.

Did You Know?

• Avramenko was orphaned at a young age and wandered homeless as an adolescent before reuniting with his brothers in Vladivostok.
• He saw Ivan Kotlyarevsky's operetta Natalka Poltavka in Vladivostok in 1912, which he later said was his first experience of seeing fellow Ukrainians on stage.
• In February 1921, he established the first of more than 100 schools of Ukrainian folk dancing in the Kalisz internment camp, starting with 100 students.
• Oleksandr Koshyts said of Avramenko's school performance: 'The ballet was marvellous: it was simply impossible to believe that such an exacting and artistic work could be created out of our dance!'
• At the Metropolitan Opera, Avramenko staged a performance with 500 dancers, a chorus of 100 singers, and a folk orchestra, which the New York Evening Post called 'a brilliant Ukrainian folk festival.'