I Am YEG Arts: Les Sereda

Shumka’s artistic director Les Sereda has mastered many creative and technical roles over his years with the company. From pivoting from hockey to dance as a young teen, to in the ensuing years adding choreography, directing, visual design and filmmaking to his repertoire, there’s no doubt about Les’ versatility and collaborative spirit. In this week’s I am YEG Arts story, Les tells us about the fascinating historical trailblazer depicted in Shumka’s new show UKRAINKA: The Four Faces of Lesya Ukrainka (at the Jubilee on October 4 and 5), and how after 65 years in existence, Shumka continues to find new ways to explore and create while also honouring the traditional Ukrainian dance form. 

How did you get your start in dance? Tell us how your dance practice has evolved to include choreography, directing, visual design, and filmmaking.

I started in dance like most kids with Ukrainian heritage did. Growing up your mom and dad shoved you in Shumka because they thought it was a good idea to have some cultural experiences as part of the community. I was pretty old when I started, I was 12 and I had no ambition to dance. I was a hockey player; I was a jock. This idea of showing up to dance was crazy to me. But many years later I’m still here, so something grabbed me and kept me involved and I’ve made a funny little career around it for the last number of years, and it’s given me so much. 

I’m also a filmmaker and I have a video production company [Blue Toque Productions]. We do corporate and commercial work as well as some creative work. It’s a big treat for me when I get to bring both of my loves together as part of one project and I’m always interested to see how creatively we can bring dance and film together. [Editor’s note: Check out Shumka’s Instagram reels for a glimpse into the convergence of Les’ creative worlds.]

Tell us about an early project or role that was pivotal in your career. 

There have been so many, I got into the Shumka company when I was 16 and I’ve been involved ever since. I’d only been dancing for four years when I got into the company. I was inexperienced and young but eager and excited to learn. 

In 1993, I went on my first trip to Ukraine to dance and train there. It was pivotal in the rest of my career. Ukraine had just opened up and got its independence and it was a rough time there. And yet, I met these people that were incredibly passionate about their culture and about sharing with us. They were eager and excited that these visiting Canadians wanted to learn. That trip was a huge turning point and focused me on a path. I had the important realization on that trip that I’m not Ukrainian — I mean, I’m Canadian with this love and passion for my family’s Ukrainian roots — but I realized pretty quickly that I was a Canadian and there was this distinct history here of (at that point) about 100 years of immigration and that was an important story that needed to be told and evolved as well. 

Later in 2000, I was lucky to go on a trip again to Ukraine recording the score for Shumka’s Cinderella show. I was recording a score with a 55-person orchestra and being part of that focused my energies on the creative side as well. 

And the rest is kind of history. There has been lots of travel and incredible performances, creative opportunities and collaborations that have shaped my journey over the years. 

Tell us about your role as Artistic Director of Shumka and what makes it special to you and the city. 

I have wanted this job since I was 16 years old. Something in me clicked very early on and I knew that I had some role to play with Shumka. Over the last 30 years, I’ve done a lot of things in my evolution as an artist. I’ve been involved creatively and technically, as well as in the education and film production end of things. 

Shumka is a special place, and it’s held an incredible place in my life. I met my wife when we danced together in the company. My kids dance at Shumka. It’s something tied into my family and in the core of who I am within this organization, and that’s why I’ve stuck around for so long. 

I hope that we hold our own place in the arts community and the city. Edmonton has become one of the meccas of Ukrainian dance outside of Ukraine. I’m incredibly proud to be part of it and feel privileged to continue creating and making things that people want to see. 

As Canada’s only professional Ukrainian dance company, tell us about the work Shumka does nationally. 

We are committed to touring nationally as frequently as possible. With nearly 50 dancers and close to 60 when including our crew, each tour represents a significant undertaking to bring our art across the country.

Shumka specializes in grand folk ballets, setting us apart from many other Ukrainian dance groups. Despite the challenges, our goal remains clear: to share our artistry with as many audiences as possible.

We just completed a national tour last year; it was wonderful to get out to the other provinces. Right after Lesya Ukrainka premieres in Edmonton in October, we’ll join the National Ballet of Ukraine on a 20-performance tour down the US Eastern Seaboard. It’s an outstanding opportunity and honour to share the stage with them. 

During COVID we developed audiences online that we had possibly never connected with before. It’ll be a nice opportunity to get out and have some of them in that region see us live and continue to build those relationships. You never know where those connections will go. This tour will lead to the next tour; that’s how these things work. So, we’re really looking forward to it. 

Lesya Ukrainka premiers on October 4^th and 5^th. Tell us about this production and how it came to be and why this historical figure’s story is important for current audiences to know. 

We started working on the Lesya Ukrainka show a number of years ago. Lesya is a really interesting historical figure. Being a woman in the late 1800s and 1900s, she stood out among her peers and took her place as one of Ukraine’s most beloved poets. She was also much more than just a poet. She fought for equality of the sexes and for equality across society. She was a wealthy, educated woman who spoke over seven languages. And yet, she saw the value in the folk culture that Ukraine was so rich with. She collected songs and music and went out and spent time with peasants to understand their culture. She believed and saw its value and that it needed to be saved and archived for future generations. She was arrested twice for translating the Communist Manifesto. She was fighting for equality in a country where there was a system of inequality. Being a woman of education and some wealth, she really stepped out of her comfort zone. She was also sick, she had bone tuberculosis her entire adult life and still managed to do all this incredible work. 

We looked at this story and went, ​“How can we tell this in some shape or form?” We put our heads together and I spent months writing a libretto. Finally, we got to something that we thought we could take forward and the rest is history. It’s a brand new symphonic score that was recorded in Lviv, Ukraine during the war. We have takes where air raid sirens are going off in the middle of the recording process. We’ve got all new sets, costumes and projections that have been built for this show. There are cinematic elements that are part of the show too. So again, I’m lucky as a director to bring both of my loves together in this show as a director. 

Is Lesya a well-known figure in Ukraine and beyond nowadays? Are there plans to tour this show? 

She’s well known, but she’s known as a poet. We definitely uncovered other things about her life that maybe weren’t as well known to everybody. We had partners and collaborators with us from Ukraine who learned something too about her in this process. We’re calling it The Four Faces of Lesya Ukrainka and we’re using four different performers to represent her work, loves, passions and the things that she cared about. The four women depict her as the dreamer, the traditionalist, the lover, and the leader. So, it’s not a literal representation of her, but a representation of all these things that she stood for, and really her vision for what she thought the world should be. 

It’s something different for us, but it still feels like a Shumka show. There’s some great Ukrainian dancing and some beautiful storytelling, film work and projections. If you love dance in general or Ukrainian dance, this show is going to appeal to you. If you love the stuff that Shumka does where it pushes the envelope a little bit, there’s some of that too. I think there’s a bit for everybody here. 

We have no firm plans at this point in terms of touring. With the upcoming U.S. tour that’s kind of put the touring of this show on the back burner. But we will hopefully get this out on the road in the not-too-distant future. 

How do you balance honouring the traditions of Shumka while also forging ahead and breaking new ground? 

It’s a constant conversation because culture evolves and grows. Since culture doesn’t live in a box, we try and find contemporary stories about the culture. I think Shumka has always tried to not be totally bound by the rules. Not that those rules necessarily are bad by any means, but we also continue to find ways to convey the Ukrainian Canadian existence in a relevant fashion and we utilize multiple tools to do that. Sometimes you reach too far, and it doesn’t work but, that’s what art is about. If you’re not taking big swings at times, then what are we doing? It’s part of the development of the art form, I want to keep evolving and taking it to new places and trying new things. 

Looking ahead, what are you most excited to work on next? 

We’re going to take a bit of a pause here after the tour this fall. Hopefully, we’ll get Lesya Ukrainka on the road. I think that will be the next biggest priority. Shumka has this incredible repertoire as well, we’ve got some pieces that that have been on the shelf for a number of years. So, we’re talking about maybe going back and restaging some of that work. So much time and resources go into these projects, we need to continue to perform them and bring them back. 

Shumka’s production UKRAINKA is on October 4 and 5 at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. You can learn more and purchase tickets here. 

About Les Sereda

Les Sereda began his dance career at the age of 12 and joined Shumka four years later. Throughout his ten years in the company, he had the privilege of working with such artists as John Pichlyk, Viktor Lytvynov, Brian Webb and Yuri Shevchenko. He toured Canada and the United States in Shumka’s productions of Absolutely Shumka and Cinderella and was honoured to be one of the performers in Sulyma Productions’ The Nutcracker, A Ballet Fantasy for three consecutive years. During Shumka’s 50^th Anniversary celebrations, he received a Membership with Distinction award from Shumka for his ongoing dedication to the company. 

In 1993 Les trained at the Ukrainian Academy of Dance in Lviv, Ukraine, focusing on both ballet and character training along with regional choreography and music. This immersive experience was a guiding force, influencing his future artistic journey and ongoing commitment to the art form. 

Over the years, Les developed a truly collaborative spirit, forging relationships with international artists to create original choreography, music, projections and costumes that have influenced the evolving world vision of Ukrainian dance. Serving as the Artistic Director of Viter Ukrainian Dancers from 2004 to 2010, his direction forged new ground for the company guiding the creation of the song and dance style that is a hallmark of the ensemble today. 

Les is also owner, director and producer of Blue Toque Productions, an Edmonton based media company specializing in telling stories through documentary-style films. In 2019, Les completed a behind-the-scenes documentary on the journey to Shumka’s Ancestors & Elders.