'DIZZY FEET' HUTSUL STYLE
- newlookk
- Oct 1, 2014
- 3 min read
Hutsuliya National Academic Hutsul Song and Dance Ensemble of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
"Hutsuliya" was founded in May 1939 by a famous Ukrainian composer and cultural leader Yaroslav Barnych. Another important figure in the history and formation of the group was a choreographer, anthropologist and performer Yaroslav Chuperchuk. Presently, their artistic legacy lives on through the works of the ensemble’s current lead choreographer Ivan Kuryliuk.
The ensemble promotes Hutsul folk art, by creating theatrical vocal and dance pieces presenting scenes from the life of Hutsuls. Frequent visits to national holidays and festivals, the thorough study of ancient rites and customs, really helped take away all that is valuable, truly folky to create the ensemble’s original and unique repertoire. The ensemble is closely linked to folk sources in its performing manner.
The ensemble has brought invaluable pieces of folk art out on stage: carols, shchedrivky (ritual songs performed at New Year’s through the holiday of Jordan, the Baptism of Jesus), Ivana Kupala games and zabavas, vocal and choreographic suites and many other traditions and customs. These brought the troupe real recognition. Typical for vocal and choreographic compositions based on Hutsul folk traditions and rituals are temperament, originality and theme focus. A true professional excellence is present in everything – from the magnificence of colorful costumes to the dancers’ most subtle move. The performers’ attire are not just stage costumes, these are true works of art that always profoundly amaze the viewer.
Perhaps the most valuable trait of the ensemble’s members is they are genuine! They are genuine and devoted in their love for art and their homeland.
In 2015, partnering with Cobblestone Freeway Tours, Ukrainian Dance World will take you to the Hutsuliya ensemble, where, within the framework of the annual Ukrainian Dance Workshop Tour, participants will be able to uncover the secrets of Hutsul dance, understand its specificity and grasp its character.
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More about Hutsuls? HUTSULS. An ethnographic group of Ukrainian pastoral highlanders inhabiting the Hutsul region in the Carpathian Mountains. According to one theory, the name hutsul was originally kochul (`nomad,` cf literary Ukrainian kochovyk) and referred to inhabitants of Kyivan Rus` who fled from the Mongol invasion into the Carpathian Mountains. Other scholars believed that the name derives from a subtribe of the Cumans or Pechenegs-the ancient Turkic Utsians or Uzians-who fled from the Mongols. Since the 19th century the most widely accepted view has been that the name comes from the Rumanian word for brigand, hotul/hot. Archeological evidence of human existence in the region dates back 100,000 years. Certain localities (eg, Kosiv) were settled as early as the Neolithic Period (6,000-4,000 BC). The Slavic White Croatians inhabited the region in the first millennium AD; with the rise of Kyivan Rus`, they became vassals of the new state. References to salt mines in the region are found in the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle, and the earliest recorded mention of a settlement there (1367) is that of the salt-mining center of Utoropy. Many other Hutsul settlements and monasteries are mentioned in charters and municipal and land documents beginning in the 15th century...
HUTSUL REGION (Hutsulshchyna). A region in the southeasternmost part of the Carpathian Mountains of Galicia, Bukovyna, and Transcarpathia (the basins of the upper Prut River, upper Suceava River, upper Bystrytsia Nadvirnianska River, and upper Tysa River valleys), inhabited by Ukrainian highlanders called Hutsuls. Except for eight settlements in Romania, the Hutsul region lies within the present-day borders of the Ukraine. In the southeast the Hutsul region borders on ethnic Romanian lands; in the west, on the region of the Boikos; in the north, on the region of the Subcarpathian Pidhiriany; and in the southwest, on long-cultivated Transcarpathian Ukrainian lands. The region is located in the most elevated and picturesque part of the Ukrainian Carpathians. The gently sloping mountains are densely populated, and the land there is cultivated to a considerable height owing to the moderating climatic influence of the Black Sea and the massiveness of the ranges, which make summers in the region warmer than in other parts of the Carpathians. Highland pastures (polonyny) are widespread, and herding, particularly of sheep, has traditionally been widely practiced.
Source: УНІАН Information Agency
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