She/Her Arlyssa McArthur joined Shumka in 2016. While growing up, she attended Shumka’s productions and enjoyed the shows immensely. She began dancing at a young age, training and competing in several genres of dance. After completing high school, she wanted to continue dancing, as it had been an integral part of her life. Deciding to try something new, she auditioned…

She/Her Taryna Marko joined Shumka in 2018. She began dancing at the age of four, taking ballet, tap, and Ukrainian, with her dad being her Ukrainian dance instructor for twelve years. At 14, she decided to join the Shumka School of Dance to further advance her Ukrainian dance training. With the School, she had the opportunity to travel to Ukraine, where…

Calynn Lirette always knew she wanted to dance with Shumka. She started dancing at the age of three with Shumka School of Dance and for two years as a dancer in Clara’s Dream. She trained in many different dance styles and was also a competitive figure skater. She counted down the years until she was old enough to audition, which finally…

He/Him When Maksym Kadziela was 11 years old, he began to lose interest in Ukrainian dance. But when his parents surprised him with a ticket to Shumka’s 50th Anniversary show, he was inspired to keep dancing and to expand his knowledge about Ukrainian culture and tradition. “Since that day, I made it my personal goal and worked towards joining Shumka.…

She/Her Elyse Dzenick started her dance career at Dance Unlimited at 4 years old. She trained in many styles of dance, which gave her many performance opportunities and eventually led her to travel to, teach and perform throughout the USA, Japan, Germany, and Poland. Elyse joined the company in 2018 as a way to embrace Ukrainian culture and reconnect with…

She/Her Annikka Dobko began her dance training at the age of 4 years old in Grande Prairie. There she studied ballet, modern, tap, jazz, lyrical and contemporary in addition to Ukrainian dance. At the age of 15, Annikka left home to pursue further ballet training at the School of Alberta in Calgary, Alberta. During her time in Calgary, she also…

She/Her Courtney Basaraba can still recall the day Wendy Kolonsky came up to her at the age of 5 and said “you would be a great Ukrainian Dancer”. From that moment on Courtney was enamoured with Ukrainian dance. Courtney joined Shumka two and a half years ago. After taking a break to pursue rugby, Courtney watched Shumka’s Nutcracker and was…

He/Him Jacob August began his dance career when he was three years old, and although at the time he took more of an interest in the stage lights, on some level he knew Ukrainian dance was going to be a life passion. After completing all the rigorous requirements for the company over the past five years, he was accepted as…