The "UKRAINA" Dance Ensemble has been a vital part of Village "UKRAINA" and the Parish of the Ukrainian Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist in Brantford, Ontario since 1974.

The original Director was Mrs. Lidya Skrypuch who put in many hours of dedicated work and effort to ensure that our traditional Ukrainian Folk Dances lived on. Starting out with approximately 25 dancers the group has grown over the years. In 1997 we had 56 dancers registered, ranging in age from 3 to 20 years of age.

Since Mrs. Skrypuch's retirement in 1992, the group has been under the directorship of Oksana Wiwczaruk.

"UKRAINA" Dance Ensemble has performed during Brantford's International Village Festival every year and has won many awards for Best Entertainment over those years. Well known in the Brantford area they are constantly invited to perform at other functions such as Brantford's Riverfest, International Village Festival Ambassador Pageant, Waterford's Pumpkinfest, Brantford's Festival of the Arts at Sanderson Centre, Ontario Place - Ukrainian Heritage Day, Delhi Tobacco Festival, Brantford Richard Beckett Senior Centre, and Camp Veselka in Acton, Ontario plus many, many more.

We have been fortunate to have Marika Samitz from Toronto as our Intermediate and Senior Groups' choreographer/instructor.

Marika is a graduate of York University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts-Dance Degree and has a very diverse resume of past dance experience as a performer and instructor. She has been with Toronto's Ukrainian Academy of Dance, Roma Pryma's Workshop and Dance Camp in Glen Spey N.Y., Ukrainian Dunai Dancers in St. Catharines, Chaika Ukrainian Dance Ensemble in Hamilton, and the Ukrainian Lviv Dancers in Oshawa.

Under Oksana's directorship and Marika's choreography, we have been able to broaden our dancers' repitoire to other regional Ukrainian folk dances. The students have been introduced to new dance disciplines, including both traditional and classical dance forms as well as character pieces. Our goal is for a better trained dancer and for a more polished performance.

The majority of our dancers have progressed through the ranks of Little Pros, Junior, Intermediate to Senior Group. The Senior Group had 12 dancers.

Brantford's International Villages Festival, which takes place annually in July is the main event in which the "UKRAINA" Dance Ensemble participates exposing our Ukrainian culture and heritage to thousands of visitors from Brantford and surrounding communities as well as guests from as far away as Australia, England, Europe and the U.S.A..

This past year we again treated our audiences to something different. A part of our heritage that leaves them applauding and cheering for more. This event always spurs additional requests for our Group to perform at other community events.