Welcome back Karen Sarafincian!

We are very excited to have Karen back with us this year, for our 50th dance season!

Karen began dancing at age 5 studying all forms of dance available. She completed her RAD ballet exams receiving marks of Distinction or Highly Commended in all examinations and trained in ADAPT jazz and tap at Dance Innovations as well as dancing with the Troyanda Ukrainian Dance Ensemble for fourteen years and was a student instructor and class assistant. Besides dance, she studied and took piano and musical theory examinations from the Royal Conservatory of Music through to Grade 8.  

Karen became a certified A.D.A.P.T and Acrobatic Dance Teachers Association instructor in Toronto and took Progressing Ballet Techniques certification in Calgary. Karen has taught and choreographed a diverse range of styles including Ukainian, ballet, jazz, tap, acro, lyrical, hip hop and specialty classes at studios ranging from small communities in Saskatchewan to high demand studios in large centres. She taught Ukrainian dance with the Troyanda Ukrainian Dance Ensemble and was a guest instructor at their Summer Dance Camp in 2014. Most recently she taught in Calgary as a jazz and ballet exam and technique/specialty class teacher.

Karen is passionate about anatomy and understanding how the musculoskeletal system works in relation to dance and movement. She is a fully certified yoga instructor with 300+ hours of teacher training, has 2 comprehensive and certified barre instructor trainings, studied mat pilates and taught at several barre and yoga studios throughout Saskatchewan and Alberta. Karen incorporates this knowledge of anatomy, body function, injury prevention and strength training into her dance classes.

Karen is looking forward to coming back to Kalyna this year!

Welcome Dan Kozak, who will be joining us as an instructor for our 50th dance season!

 

My name is Dan Kozak I am musician/accordion player and I have been dancing since I was 5 years old, now if you do the math this season makes this my 26th year dancing and my 16 year teaching dance. I think I’m getting old. 

 

I started my love of dance at the age of 4 in the fall of 1999. Where I started dancing was with Brandon Troyanda till spring 2007. 

Fall of 2007 I began dancing with Sandy lake Shevchenko dancers. 

Fall of 2008 I would travel 2hrs twice a week till early spring in 2010 with Zirka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble of Dauphin MB.

While dancing with Zirka I  also danced 2 years with Bratstva Studios. 

I still perform with Canada’s National Riding and Dancing Cossacks and Company. 

Through out the last 26 years I have been to numerous dance Camps and workshops across Western Canada and Dickinson, North Dakota USA. 

I have been taught by many talented dance choreographers while attending the dance camps, workshops and inherited their passion for Ukrainian dance. 

I have taught and instructed Ukrainian dance for 16years. The groups I have taught and directed are,

Rorketon Rusalka dancers, 

Ethelbert Vitriwka Dancers, 

Gilbert Plains Veselka dancers, 

Zirka Ukrainian dance Ensemble, 

Bratstva Studios, 

Roblin Suzir’ja Dancers, 

Canada’s National Riding and Dancing Cosssacks 

Yednist school of dance. 

My favourite regions of dance are Polissia, Volyn, Zarkapattia, Bukovyna, Podillia, Central and Lemko. I’m looking toward to a great year to help children learn about Ukrainian dance and get to pass on what I have been taught and With the love of my Dancing, the love of music, my goal is to pass down what I have been taught to the next generation to keep the culture and traditions alive on stages for years to come through the love of music and Dance. 

2 interesting things about me is I can play the accordion, cymbaly, guitar, drums and I have a hard time speaking Ukrainian but I can sing in Ukrainian without a problem. 

Stay Ukrainian my Friends!

Welcome back AnnaLee Parnetta for Kalyna’s 50th dance season.  This year begins AnnaLee’s 49th year working within the Ukrainian dance community, and for Kalyna she will be instructing our oldest and youngest dancers. 

AnnaLee began Ukrainian dance when she and her sister, Larissa were enrolled into the Kalyna family in the fall of 1976.  During her eleven dance years with Kalyna, she participated in two Kalyna summer dance camps(1982 and 1983), as well as a two week summer Ukrainian dance camp at Fort San (1984) and Saskatoon (1986) These summer camps led to her becoming a junior instructor for a group of Kalyna beginner girls, in 1986/87.  From 1987 to 1996 AnnaLee danced with a variety of Ukrainian dance groups in Winnipeg, and in 1996 she auditioned and joined Tavria Ukrainian Folk Dance Ensemble in Regina.  During her five years with Tavria, she learned and performed dances from numerous dance regions, with her favourite being Bukovina.  In the summer of 2000 Tavria travelled, workshopped and performed in Ukraine, a tour that was a definite bucket list experience.  In the summer of 1997, AnnaLee was also a member of the Dauphin Ukrainian Cossack Riders and Company and performed at Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival in celebration of the Cossacks 25th anniversary.

 

Along with Ukrainian dance AnnaLee took two years of tap and jazz and was also very fortunate to have travelled in the United States and Europe for a year with the world renowned singing and dancing group “Up With People” (1989/90).

To be a better dancer and instructor AnnaLee attended many Ukrainian Dance workshops over the years, in Yorkton, Fort San, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton and Ukraine. Instructors have included Clara Balog and Kim Wasylenko of Ukraine, Maestro Petro Beaudout of Regina, Doug Rachinski from Shumka and Bohdan Zerebecky and Marcella Cenko, former artistic directors of Yevshan Ukrainian Ensemble in Saskatoon. In 2004 AnnaLee established, Sadok Ukrainian Dance School in Kamsack and was the administrator and instructor from 2004 to 2010. In 2017 AnnaLee returned as the instructor and is excited to be with Sadok in their twenty-second dance season.  

In 2005, along with teaching children, AnnaLee began teaching Ukrainian dance to adults. Over the years she has taught adult Ukrainian dance groups in Kamsack and Swan River and is currently the adult instructor for Kalyna. In the spring of 2024, AnnaLee was awarded the Ukrainian Canadian Congress/Saskatchewan - Community Builders Recognition for Cultural Development and Preservation, and for Leadership, for her involvement in Ukrainian dance and various other Ukrainian community activities.  AnnaLee is a full time Home Ec/Cooking teacher at Sacred Heart High School and is starting her 23rd year of teaching. When not teaching school or dance you will find AnnaLee busy sewing for others, costume designing and hanging out at either the hockey rink or the cabin at Madge Lake with her husband Jeff and son Jameson.