Heroiam Slava Performed in Ukraine

Where to begin?? Our performance in Kropyvnytskyi was absolutely phenomenal.

We arrived at the theatre around 2:30 pm and got our dressing rooms set up. The theatre was really beautiful and the change room were spacious. Our Cobblestone guides brought our lunch to the theatre - amazing how they can arrange a pretty excellent lunch in to go containers - we had vegetables, shishlyk and cherry perogies. Our technical rehearsal was quite efficient, mostly practicing transitions between dancing and choir. During this time we also set up our quick changes and did our makeup for the most part. We also got to hear the soloist for the song at the end of the storyline which was stunning... even just hearing her sing a few phrases made me emotional.

Pretty quickly it was time for group warm up and getting ready for the stage. We were both more nervous than we typically are before a show. The audience was amazing... they really made us feel like they were enjoying the show. There was one point during Kokhannia the audience was clapping with the music at a point we wouldn’t have expected it! Definitely gave me extra energy! Everything really went quite well ... I made one strange mistake with my arms which is frustrating, but I hope that won’t happen again.

After hopak, the applause, standing ovation, and ‘bravos’ felt amazing!!! We took some photos after the show with the theatre seats behind us! Seems like the feedback Shane was getting after the show has been very positive. The man in the sound/light room was the director of the theatre and he also danced with Virsky for decades. He told Shane that he was inspired by the show and rarely sees such passion in dancers.

Next it was time for a quick stop at the hotel to air out our costumes. Tyler and I took everything apart and draped costumes literally all over our hotel room (especially the lamps). It worked! In the morning everything felt quite dry.

It was back to the bus to go to the post-show Zabava. We were very hungry and arrived to see the tables covered with appetizers. Before we went in, we had to do a welcome shot (plain vodka, not the cherry kind from Kyiv). There were approximately 10 different appetizers including salads, eggplant with tomato sauce, fruit, cheese, meats and fish. There was a stuffed fish dish they handed out individually that I found I just couldn’t eat given the texture. This honestly would have been enough food. But then there were many other dishes they brought out (cabbage rolls, meat balls, ribs, and nalysnyky). I really just needed something to eat but then once I was nourished I was pretty near ready to fall asleep at the table.

The hosts were playing a few zabava games - with ribbons and a perogy making contest. The perogies that were made were the ones that we ate. They had made a few “happy perogies” that were full of salt. It was said that whoever got that perogy would have good luck for a year. Tyler bit into his perogy and immediately was overwhelmed by salt. He won some candy because he got that perogy.

A few other dancers were exhausted like me and we decided to leave a bit early. We left at 12:15. The car back to the hotel was 40 hryvni (so with four dancers it was 10 each... about 50 cents each). Tyler seems to function better than me with no quiet time... but I really needed a bit of down time. I organized some of my packing for the morning. I don’t think I had been in bed very long before Tyler made it back home but it sure was worth it!

Tomorrow we have a workshop and then a long bus ride to Vinnitsya!

BrookeRead more