Malanka Countdown (5 More Days!)
The real date of Malanka is January 14th, but our date of Malanka is on the 17th. That’s because it is the closest Saturday to it. Why? Because I do Ukrainian Dance, and we do a huge performance for New Year’s!
The dances in the show are:
- Pryvit: A traditional welcoming dance with all our dancers. It is multi-regional, so there are many different costumes. There is also bread and salt, wheat, and towels carried on at the end to welcome you; that is a traditional way to welcome someone to your home or wherever.
- Transcarpathian Dance: Done by the eldest dance class, intermediates, which is my class. We’ve split the eight girls that learned the dance last year into two groups of four, and that is the one I am doing. We wear long white skirts with red vests.
- Bukovanian Dance: Also done by my intermediate class, the ‘Buko’, as we call it, is done by the other half of my class who’s learned it. They wear black skirts that are striped and are much tighter than the ‘Trans’ skirts.
- Poltava ‘Friendship’ Duet: A poltava dance, done by fellow intermediate Emily and I. We wear the Trans skirts with no vests and a poltava sash. We can only do it if we have been approved by our instructor.
- Junior (Poltava) Kozachok: A dance in which girls wear flowy blue skirts and flowery headpieces, while boys wear baggy blue pants and golden-yellow sashes. This is done by the Junior One class. My mom is the instructor for that class!
- Junior Hutsul: My brother’s class is Junior Two, and they are doing a Hutsul dance. My brother wears a white shirt and pants with a sash that is different colors: orange, brown, green, etc.
- Celebration of Seasons Dance: The beginners class which is instructed by my mom is doing a dance that celebrates the four seasons. Old Ukrainian folklore-there are spirits of the forests, and there are spirits of the water. Well, with amazing costumes that my friend Innana’s mom made, my mom put together a dance that is beautiful yet still has a Ukrainian touch to it!
- Poltava Shawl Dance: My class has done another-the Intermediates are at it again! This time with a Shawl dance. We dress in black with a poppy and ribbon in our hair and we dance with shawls. It is quite beautiful.
I (obviously) can’t wait for Malanka!
Photo credit: scholz
These are not dancers from my dance group.
January 13th, 2009 at 5:24 am
Hi Haley! When I read this list the first thing that comes to mind is Wow! What a lot of costume changes, and so much practicing! I am curious about the dance being done in the picture. Can you add that detail to your post? Thanks for the description of these dances: what a great way to honour your cultural heritage.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:57 am
hey haley
its brayden
i was going to come but i cant
so when it comes good luck
January 16th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Hey Haley,
I just came trough your blog and found it very cool!
I’m 14 years old and I’m from Argentina.
Visit my blog at http://takingitfurther.blogspot.com
Keep in touch,
Stephie
PS: How old are you? Where do you live?
January 16th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Hi Haley! I think the count down is … TOMORROW!!! I am so pleased with your efforts at dance. You are an excellent dancer. I hope you have a great time both performing and celebrating our New Year!!
January 17th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Hi Haley!
Wow, what a neat way of celebrating New Year’s, Malanka that sounds really interesting! You really explained it well, I can get a picture of what Malanka is like just by reading your post! Which costume, and dance was your favorite? I kind of like the sound of the Celebration of Seasons Dance, I would really like to see that one day! And I also think it is cool that our class is going to get to learn about Ukrainian culture, and than you and Sam can teach the class about it a little bit too!
I am looking forward to learning about Ukrainian culture Haley, I hope I will learn lots! Great post, see you on Monday!
January 17th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
@Catie
I think my favourite dancer ever was one that my Mom choreographed when I was in her beginners class. It was called Sonyashnyk, meaning sunflowers, and we did, well, a sunflower dance! My second favourite, though, was a dance with blue skirts called “The Clapping Dance”. We did when I was intermediate 1 and, that’s what we did! We clapped. It was pretty cool, but my favourite has to be Sonyashnyk. Oh, and my duet with Emily called Friendship that we choreographed with a little help from our instructor Janette DID get approved! We’ll be performing TONIGHT!
January 20th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Hi Haley,
Thanks for the comment! I’ve been blogging for nearly two years…and you? How old are you?
Hope to hear from you soon,
Stephie
January 21st, 2009 at 11:38 am
Hey Haley!
Wow I can’t belive it went by so fast. We had so much fun and it was lots of fun at the tech rehursel. I can’t wait until the mission dance festivel.