She/Her Tasha Orysiuk is a highly respected and accomplished dance educator, adjudicator and choreographer in Canada, having trained extensively in various disciplines under internationally-renowned artists in Canada, the United States, England, and Ukraine during her dance career. Over the years, Tasha achieved her Advanced Dance Certificates in tap, ballet, jazz, modern, and national dancing, in addition to holding numerous other…
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He/Him Toronto-born Paul Olijnyk began his association with Shumka in 2001 when he moved to Edmonton and joined the company. Since then, Paul has taught Ukrainian dance throughout the province of Alberta; adjudicates dance festivals throughout Western Canada; and has been a guest choreographer for dance ensembles in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario. He is one of the key instructors…
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Alyssa began her dance career with training in Ukrainian and ballet. Since then she has also trained in tap, jazz and hip hop. Alyssa is an alumnus of the Shumka School of Dance and has been an instructor with the School since 2007. Alyssa joined the Shumka Dancers as a member in 2006. She has performed internationally in Ukraine and…
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She/Her Since the age of three, Natasha Grant has been encouraged to connect with her Ukrainian heritage through music and dance. Shumka School has helped shape her into the individual she is today and her time spent volunteering as a Junior Instructor and Leader in Training led her to join the company in 2018. Natasha considers the Shumka 60 Tour…
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He/Him Joshua Pacholok has been dancing in Shumka since 2019. At the age of 6, he enrolled in grade 1 at the Shumka School of Dance. He continued to dance for 5 years until leaving to pursue other interests. At age 13, after watching his brother and cousins perform on stage with Shumka, he rediscovered his passion for Ukrainian dance.…
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He/Him Murray Steel has been a Shumka dancer for 10 years. When he was 12 years old, his dance instructor Doug Rachinski, gave him tickets to see Shumka’s Cinderella in which Doug was performing the role of the Fencing Master. “Before that, I only knew Shumka’s name. After watching my very own dancer teacher perform in such an awesome show,…
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He/Him Les Sereda began his dance career at the age of 12 and joined Shumka four years later. Throughout his ten years in the company, he had the privilege of working with such artists as John Pichlyk, Viktor Lytvynov, Brian Webb and Yuri Shevchenko. He toured Canada and the United States in Shumka’s productions of Absolutely Shumka and Cinderella and was honoured to…
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