She/Her — Breanna Senko started dancing at the age of 3 at rural dance clubs in Westlock and Thorhild. While there, she took part in jazz, ballet, contemporary and Ukrainian dance. As she grew older, she became more serious about Ukrainian dance and wanted to be more connnected to her Ukrainian heritage, and at the age of 11 she decided…

She/Her — Emily began Ukrainian dance at the age of 3 in her hometown of St. Paul, Alberta. Since then, each instructor she has had was a Shumka dancer. The consistent exposure to the world of Shumka inspired Emily to make the company a part of her dance journey. In 2020, she joined Studia Shumka where she spent 2 years…

He/Him Fifteen years ago, Jason Adams retired from his dance career with Viter and discovered a joy for performing and coaching circus arts. After completing a two year professional circus program in Vermont, Jason returned home to share circus with students and audiences in Edmonton. He found Shumka again in the fall of 2021 and was swept up in the…

He/Him Nick Hynek, originally from Lloydminster, AB, has been Ukrainian Dancing for 20 years. Most recently dancing with the Viter Ukrainian Dancers for the past 8 years and travelling all over North America and Europe performing for thousands of people. Nick fell in love with performing from a young age and through his passions of music, acting and dancing. After…

He/Him Alex Stasiuk’s passion for Ukrainian dance started at the age of three when he had seen the Ardrossan Yatran dancers in a parade and joined the group that fall. At Yatran’s year end show his instructor Murray Steele had gotten Shumka to perform for them and Alex had a goal of one day being like his instructor and dance…

She/Her Originally born in Ukraine, Viktoriya Glozhyk has cherished her background by speaking Ukrainian, being a part of Plast (Ukrainian Youth Association of Canada), and of course- Ukrainian dancing. Viktoriya has been Ukrainian dancing since she moved to Canada at age 6, and later on at age 10 expanding to competitive ballet, jazz, lyrical and contemporary styles at Dance Unlimited.…

He/him Taras Geleta started Ukrainian dance at age 4 in the Athabasca Ukrainian Folk Dance Club. He first discovered his passion for Ukrainian dance around age 13 and since then it has only grown. In 2017, Taras had the opportunity to go to North Dakota to perform with his friends from Athabasca. A couple years later, a group of his…

She/Her Ava began dancing in Fort McMurray at the age of three, taking ballet and tap lessons. After going to see her first Shumka show that year, she fell in love with Ukrainian dance. She then enrolled with the Avrora dance school in 2007, taking Ukrainian lessons there for seven years. Her family eventually moved to Edmonton so that she…

She/Her Ashlyn Grummett has been dancing since the age of three. Starting with ballet, jazz and tap, she quickly grew a liking for Ukrainian dance as well. Through the years she expanded her disciplines to add contemporary, lyrical, pointe and musical theatre. After 11 years of studying Ukrainian dance under former Shumka dancer, Doug Rachinski, Ashlyn joined the Viter Ukrainian…

They/Them Lauren Dzenick started dancing at three years old at Dance Unlimited, where they trained in many different styles. They danced competitively for 15 years, and spent the summer of 2019 training with the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City and Las Vegas. They were trained by industry professionals in ballet, musical theatre, jazz, and contemporary. When they were…