Nova Nomada #5 - Thursday Sept 9^th at the NY Ukrainian Sports Club.

Yara is back from Siberia - and now continues its new series Nova Nomada. The next event "Night #5 -- New Music, Slides, Poetry and Prose at the Sports Club or "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" is tomorrow Thursday September 9^th.. Kristina Lucenko will read from her new work, Eugene Hutz will read excerpts from his novella in verse, Scream of Blood, Staroviry (Kytasty, Hutz, Kytasty) will present New Music from Old Sources, while Virlana Tkacz will present Summer in Siberia, IV with slides by Alexander Khantaev. Afterwards, the audience can meet the artists over beer and pretzels. The event will take place on Thursday, September 9 at the Ukrainian Sports Club 122 Second Avenue at 7^th Street. Admission is $5.

Kristina Lucenko writes short fiction and creative nonfiction. She received her MA in Creative Writing from the City College of New York. Her work has been published in Promethean, and will be included in an anthology of Ukrainian-American writers to be published by Harvard University Press sometime next year.

Staroviry, the new music ensemble which made its debut at Nova Nomada's first event, will present its newest pieces. The group includes Alex Kytasty, Eugene Hutz and Julian Kytasty. Eugene Hutz, the front man for the popular downtown band Gogol Bordello, will read chapter 1 from his new verse novella Scream of Blood.

Virlana Tkacz, the artistic director of Yara Arts Group, has returned this week from her fourth trip to Buryatia which is located near Lake Baikal in Siberia. She will speak about her latest expedition to collect folk material in the remote the Ust-Orda Buryat Region and will show slides by Siberian photographer Alexander Khantaev. Yara has created several original theatre pieces with artists from the Buryat National Theatre and is currently working on a new piece.

Yara's events with Nova Nomada have been wildly successful and unique events. Night #1 Lessons on "Transcultural Terrorism & Contemporary Myth Making" new Ukrainian eductainment and storytelling featured "Bicycling in Transylvania," an ethno-electronic music piece by Staroviry (Kytasty-Hutz-Kytasty);"Dirtboy 13," storytelling performance by Eugene Hutz; and Ukrainian-Hamerican poetry by Virlana Tkacz. The opening event, packed the Big Bar on East 7^th Street in New York. Night #2 was New Music and Poetry at the Sports Club: Four World Premieres and a Party. Presented were: the debut performances of the Experimental Bandura Trio, Maria Rewakowicz reading poetry from Green Roof, her new book of poetry, Yara actor Cecilia Arana singing Ludmyla Taran's "India Ink" in celebration of the publication of a new book of Ms. Taran's work in translation and Eugene Hutz dejaying his special blend of ethnomusic as the audience chatted with the artists over beer and pretzels.

Night #3, Kupalo Freakout, a new look at the Pagan Slavic Midsummer Night took place at the Ukrainian Sports Club on June 22. The evening began with excerpts with Kupalo scenes from such famous films as: Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev, and Kusturica's Time of the Gypseis. It featured a screening of the short film "Dora Is Dysfunctional," Andrea Odezynska's award-winning outrageous look at our attempts to keep Old Country rituals in the States. Ms. Odezynska was on hand to introduce the film and talk about her experiences. The evening also included an introduction to Kupalo rituals by Virlana Tkacz who read several incantations to waters she translated with Wanda Phipps. There was a special appearance by soprano Natalia Honcharenko who improvised on a Kupalo song with Julian Kytasty on bandura.

Night #4 -- Kupalo Freakout (Julian Calendar) was an outdoor extravaganza celebrating the Pagan Slavic Midsummer Night. The audience became participants in old rituals as they searched out magical moments hidden throughout the beautifully lush Community Garden on East 6^th St and Avenue B. As each person entered they were asked to write a fortune and to hang it on the hiltse, or fortune tree. Then they walked past a rock formation with clear bowls of water where Katie Takahashi recited water incantations and told fortunes, accompanied by a sound installation of ancient Kupalo songs compiled by Virlana Tkacz and electronically processed by Alex Kytasty. Freshly picked wildflowers lay on the table at the gazebo, where Irina and Genya from Kyiv helped everyone make their own wreaths. Then the participants wandered throughout the garden. Nestled on benches hidden under a trellis of the grape vines they could hear a simultaneous reading by Tom Lee and Taras Los from Gogol's short story "St John's Eve," in English and Ukrainian accompanied by the music of Mike Andrec. Standing in front of a video projection of Ilienko's film on Kupalo, Eugene Hutz read his original stories from his collection New York Fables in Ukrainian to the accompaniment of the bandura. The audience was encouraged to pour buckets of water on Mr. Hutz at the end of each story and enthusiastically did so. In another secret corner Yara's choreographer Dyane Harvey led the participants in a candle dance to Meredith Wright's hypnotic voice improvisations on the traditional Ukrainian folk song "Hold a Candle." Tristra Newyear, Eleanor Lipat and Julian Kytasty sang Kupalo songs in the trilling traditional style known as "bily holos," or white voice. The end of the evening had everyone reading their fortunes to the light of candles floating on water.

Yara Arts Group creates original theatre pieces, art, music and poetry events that celebrate the cultures of the East. Nova Nomada is Yara's new series featuring collaborative art events for the new generation of the downtown hromada. For more information on Yara's events: Yara Arts Group 306 East 11^th St #3B, New York, NY (212) 475-6474 yara@prodigy.net. Visit our website at www.brama.com/yara.