He/Him Joshua Pacholok began dancing at the age of five in the Shumka School of Dance. In 2016, after a two-year break from dance, Josh returned to the studio, both nervous and eager to continue his dance journey. As his passion for dance continued to grow, Josh entered Shumka School’s Intensive Division where he had the opportunity to explore other…
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She/Her Arlyssa McArthur began her dance journey at a young age, training and competing in a wide range of genres including ballet—studying in the ISTD, Vaganova, and RAD methods—as well as jazz, tap, lyrical, modern and contemporary. Inspired by the Shumka productions she attended throughout her childhood, Arlyssa auditioned for the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers in 2016, despite having no formal…
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She/Her Taryna Marko began dancing at the age of four, training in ballet, tap, and Ukrainian dance. For twelve years, she learned Ukrainian dance under her father’s instruction, who instilled in her a lifelong love for this art form. At the age of 14, she advanced her training by joining the Shumka School of Dance. Through SSD, she had the…
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She/Her Dance has been a part of Calynn’s life for as long as she can remember. Calynn started dancing as soon as she could walk, and by age 2, she was already enrolled in my first dance class. She grew up with Ukrainian dance, ballet, and dabbled with contemporary and lyrical, each style teaching me something new about herself and…
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He/Him Murray Steele has been in Shumka for over 14 years, but has been involved in the Alberta Ukrainian dance community his whole life. Murray began Ukrainian dancing over 31 years ago and has been an active dancer ever since. During his extensive dance career, Murray has had the pleasure of performing with the Viter and Volya Ukrainian Dance Ensembles,…
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She/Her Since she was a young girl watching from the audience, Leda Tarnawsky has aspired to be a Shumka Dancer. She began her dance training at the age of four and three years later, joined the Shumka School where she discovered her love for Ukrainian dance. In 2018, Leda successfully auditioned for the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers. Since joining the company,…
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She/Her Annikka Dobko received her dance education from various institutions including the School of Alberta Ballet and Kirov Academy of Ballet of Washington DC. Additionally, she studied at summer intensive ballet programs at the Royal Ballet School Antwerp (Belgium), American Ballet Theatre and Joffrey Ballet School (New York), The National Ballet of Canada, Boston Ballet, Ballet West (Salt Lake City)…
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There are many people who have given so much back to Shumka and for so many reasons. For Evan Zukiwsky, the people that made up the company was his motivating factor. “I always wanted to be part of the organizational and leadership roles in the company because of the people who influenced me. I learned from those people who were…
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June’s background in the Arts began at the University of Alberta, where she earned a B.A. in Psychology and a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance. She became affiliated with the Shumka School of Dance 16 years ago, when she brought her three boys to begin their Ukrainian dance training. She believed right from the start that Shumka School was the…
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He/Him Joshua Semchuk has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Alberta in theatre and film production, communications, operations, and administration, and a Masters of Organizational Leadership from Colorado State University. He is such a huge fan of the CFL and the Edmonton football club he has appeared on the fan podcast Eskimo Empire not once but 10 times.…
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