Wally Tarnawsky was a dancing member for 5 years but has contributed for over 30.  During his dancing time, he volunteered on many committees and was a 3-term board member on the dancer-led Executive.

Once retired Wally served on the Alumni Association including a term as its President and volunteered as Merchandise Assistant during the Absolutely Shumka and Cinderella Canadian tours.  He has coordinated fundraising campaigns for both Shumka and Shumka School, has served on the Gala committees since 2014, assisted with costume, props and transportation for Shumka shows, and has been an integral behind-the-scenes guy for all of the company’s major productions since 2016.

He has been a translator and liaison between Shumka artists and those in Ukraine.  He has handled all the translations for playbills, marketing and social media posts. He has been invaluable as an interpreter during business sponsorship and artistic meetings in Ukraine, notably in 2018 & 2019.

Most notable of all his contributions perhaps, and certainly the most visible, is his volunteer role as Project Manager for the Shumka Dance Centre project.  He oversaw the complete renovation of a 14,000 square foot warehouse bay into the fully-functional dance facility it became — with storage, professional meeting space, offices, wardrobe, lobby and studios.

One might say he “literally built the home where Shumka lives.”  He continues his role as Facility Manager as a volunteer, overseeing security, maintenance, liaising with everyone from the landlord to the custodians to the HVAC providers.

He is a friend to all in the SSD, Shumka itself, the production team and to all of our creative collaborators in Ukraine.  Through it all, he upholds the motto, “work hard, play hard” and he is always ready to help clean up after cast parties; to investigate security alarms at the studio at 3am; to support production emergencies with his ever-ready bar-in-a-suitcase; and his smile truly makes everyone in the Shumka family feel welcome and seen.