Nika Bekkewold (6A)
Dance has been a vital part of Ukrainian culture, which dates back to the third millennium BC starting with the Cucuteni-Trypillian tribes.
A number of types of the traditional folk dancing have been referred to as Ukrainian dance; the most known type of such dancing is called the Cossack dancing. There are many famous groups of the Cossack dancing touring around the world.
It has been assumed that, up to the introduction of Christianity to Kievian Rus in 998, the traditional folk dancing functioned as a very important ritual in Ukraine, which combined dance, music, poetry, and songs. It can be argued that this ritual/dance still functions in Ukraine now.
These “rituals” were very ingrained with the culture of the people, prior to the introduction Christianity and, rather than eliminating these rituals, it incorporated Christian themes by the missionaries. It is said that they used these dances to spread their religion among lay people.
Ukrainian dancing began to change with the vision of Vasyl Verkhovynets who assembled a theatrical troupe and started to combine the dancing with theatre, still basing the story line of the folk themes.
As the troupe traveled across the country, the performances started to gain popularity. The Ukrainian dance thus stopped being used for ritual purposes, but started to exist for preserving its history and entertainment.
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