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"A night with the Shumka dancers is not just splendid entertainment for the
eyes and heart, it's an inspiration for the timid and an affirmation of the rewards
of challenging work… This troupe of dancers delivered a performance so technically
exquisite and so emotionally endearing, it made the most preposterous goal that
anyone in the virtually sold-out audience could have dreamed up, seem possible.
Were this dazzling company never to create another program, this one would deserve
its reputation ad infinitum."
HELEN METELLA, EDMONTON JOURNAL
" The Most entertaining dance spectacle this season… In the often
indulgent realm of dance, one rarely witnesses such jetstreams of inexhaustible
power, poetry and propulsion as the unselfish Shumka company offered on stage
yesterday. The worst thing one could say about the performance is that there
isn't a second show."
GARTH BUCHHOLZ, WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
"If the energy expended Saturday evening on the stage of the Queen Elizabeth
Theatre by the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers could have been converted into electricity,
there would have been enough to keep the lights of downtown Vancouver burning
for a week!"
VANCOUVER PROVINCE
"The Shumka Dancers know how to give an audience its money's worth, with
true showmanship and imagination. Shumka is a national treasure."
PAULA CITRON, TORONTO STAR
"Shumka… comes as close to institutional status in the arts as it
gets… A truly remarkable Canadian arts story… Remarkable, because
Shumka has developed into a company professional in nearly every respect other
than name itself. That such strides could be made by an amateur organization
in the stuff of textbooks, a convincing case study on the possibilities that
can spring from hard work and artistic focus. It's unprecedented in Canada."
ALAN KELLOGG, EDMONTON JOURNAL
"Shumka's Production is full of youthful energy that was contagious to
all watching."
RICHARD KRAKOWETZ, THE SASKATOON SHEAF
"The applause was deafening as members of the audience jumped to their
feet, shouting Bravo, Encore, Encore and the wild wonderful music urged the
dancers to more whirling and leaping… faster, faster, higher, higher. This
was really happening in calm and collected Canada? In Toronto? At the O'Keefe
on Sunday afternoon? You bet it was and we were thrilled to be part of the most
extraordinary love-in we've ever witnessed."
KIT MCDERMOTT, THE BRANTFORD EXPOSITOR
"Since the group's inception in1959, Shumka has established one of the
highest artistic standards of any performing group in the country. Its gifted
and committed dancers never fail to dazzle audiences. Passion makes this dance
troupe unique - a passion for Ukrainian culture, a passion for dance and, above
all, a passion for the human spirit."
ROSA JACKSON, EDMONTON JOURNAL
"The antithesis of self-indulgence…"
ANDREA RABINOVICH, CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, MILE ZERO DANCE
"Shumka has an enthusiasm for the business of the human heart… and
displays a spirited love of dance that could put some professional groups to
shame. That enthusiastic celebration of spirit is what the company is all about.
And there are very few places in our world where it is expressed with such verve
and beauty as in the world of the Shumka dancers."
PAMELA ANTHONY, DANCE CONNECTION
"Shumka is the country's leading folk-dance group. Shumka is taking a
pioneering role in creating the first truly Canadian dance form."
GRAHAM HICKS, EDMONTON SUN
"…the Shumka Dancers took the audience with them until two encores
and several curtain calls later… they let the curtain fall on our relentless
shouts for more…"
SHERI TILLMAN, HONG KONG TIMES
"Shumka is made up of real show people!"
MICHAEL CRABB, CBC
"…An awesome synthesis of folk dance, acrobatics, modern dance, and
dance theatre, the Shumka production featured sumptuous, brilliant costumes,
ingenious set pieces and stunning musical accompaniment. Five out of five stars!"
GART BUCHOLZ, WINNEPEG FREE PRESS
"The audience was mown down by the sheer strength of all those muscular
thighs and buoyant spirits, and went home feeling exhausted and sared from such
vicarious thrills!"
LOUISE WHITNEY, THE VANCOUVER COURIER
"Absolutely Shumka is absolutely magnificent."
MARCO LEVYTSKY, UKRANIAN NEWS
"Shumka's stories unfold with charming literalness, like brightly coloured
pages in a well-illustrated book of fables. Old, New and in-between, the Shumka
dancers are absolutely spectacular."
PAMELA ANTHONY, EDMONTON JOURNAL
"This troupe of 50 can do everything and anything, with young charming
dancers that are dynamic and extremely talented."
JOHN CHARLES, EDMONTON SUN
"Absolutely Shumka is strikingly daring, as the dance troupe steps nimbly
beyond its Ukrainian roots and classical ballet."
PAULINE TAM, OTTAWA CITIZEN
"One doesn't just watch the Shumka Dancers - they are absolutely thrilling
to experience. Their dash and vigour, their number and harmony, their sheer
joy of dance… make them unquestionably unique."
VERONICA TENNANT, PRIMA BALLERINA, AUTHOR, BROADCASTER
"The company's legendary combination of raw enthusiasm and sharp technique
is on glorious display, artfully shaped by the rich talents of an artistic team
that knows how to put on a top-notch production. The sheer energy and passion
pouring off the stage is enough to evoke admiration."
PAMELA ANTHONY, EDMONTON JOURNAL
"...(Cinderella) had a delicate fluidity reminiscent of Evelyn Hart...
regional styles flawlessly and enthusiastically executed... an almost impossibly
extravagant pageant of costumes and sets... as effective as ballet for telling
stories, and the colourful folk influences gave the production an enchanting
picture-book quality."
JANET SMITH, GEORGIA STRAIGHT, VANCOUVER
"Executed with high energy . . . the dancing in this show is simply spectacular."
NICK MILIOKAS, THE LEADER-POST, REGINA
"... the dancers have their moves down to the last perfectionist swirl
and well-placed kick. How many other amateur ethnic dance companies can mount
a lush $2-million production and launch a 12-city national tour (their ninth)
with an all volunteer company?"
GILBERT BOUCHARD, SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
" . . . (the Shumka Dancers have), just gotten more virtuoso and spectacular...
a highly entertaining show."
JOHN CHARLES, EDMONTON SUN
"The Shumka dancers presented this wonderful fairy tale so beautifully
and with such style. The sets were awesome with (Maria Levitska's) original
style shining through. The costumes were exceptionally colorful and stunning,
making the stage even more remarkable. This collaboration of the creators certainly
paid off. Most impressive!!!."
HALYA WILSON, UKRAINIAN NEWS (NATIONAL)
"An evening of breathtaking dance and spectacle. The Ukrainian Shumka
Dancers, with this production, move into the major leagues of dance in Canada."
COLIN MACLEAN, CBC TELEVISION
"Shumka is a genuine phenomenon. And Cinderella, Shumka-style, is an invigorating
flourish of pure dance and colour... A folk-tale with true folk sensibility
and design, it's a production that heralds yet another new artistic accomplishment
for Edmonton's acclaimed Shumka Dancers."
PAMELA ANTHONY, EDMONTON JOURNAL
"... as this amateur Alberta company pushes its standards ever higher
and packs houses across the country, that, ultimately, becomes the real Cinderella
story."
JANET SMITH, GEORGIA STRAIGHT, VANCOUVER
"The Shumka Dancers know how to give an audience its money's worth, with
true showmanship and imagination. Shumka is a national treasure"
PAULA CITRON, TORONTO STAR
"(Shumka performs) the most exciting dance in Alberta"
BRIAN WEBB, BRIAN WEBB DANCE COMPANY
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