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Text Box: Photos by Virlana Tkacz and Alannah Farrell

Text Box: This fall Yara Arts Group teamed up with Maria Sonevytsky and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance to bring Yevhen Yefremov from the Kyiv Conservatory to conduct a month of workshops in traditional singing from the Chronobyl Region. Dr. Yefremov has been researching and collecting folk music of the Kyiv Pollissia since the 1970s. Villages in this area had preserved many old ritual songs

Text Box: and a unique style of polyphonic singing. Since the disaster of 1986 he has often traveled to the area to collect songs, and visited local singers in the villages where they have been resettled. Maria Sonevytsky brought together the singers who attended the workshops and became Ensemble Hilka. They included: Yara artists Julian Kytasty, Eva Salina Primack, Maria Sonevytsky and Nadia Tarnawsky, as

Text Box: well as New York singers: Suzanna Denison, Brian Dolphin, Cherrymae Golston, JR Hankins, Ethel Raim, Willa Roberts, Caitlin Romtvedt, and Shelley Thomas. The group rehearsed intensely for over a month with Dr. Yefremov. Since most of the songs were ritual songs the structure for the performance would become a year in ritual song. (continues on page 3)

Text Box: A special feature this year is the focus on video art with brief works from artists such as Laura Arena, Lani Asuncion, Katya Grokhovsky, Maria Niro, Laurence Payot, Hidemi Takagi, Tahir Un and Ezra Wube, as well as Yara video artists: Volodymyr Klyuzko, Andrea Odezynska & Mikhail Shraga. The art exhibit will open on Friday, January 27, at 8 PM with performances on the move. The audience will be guided through the three floors of the mansion into rooms which will fill with poetry and dance as they enter. Olena Jennings, Wanda Phipps and Christina Lillian Turczyn will read their own works, while Bob Holman performs with Julian Kytasty and Sophia Holman performs her own piece with Tom Eliot. Other performers include cellist Paul Brantley, dancer Inka Juslin, and performance artist Teng Chao-Ming. Afterwards guests may enjoy a wine and cheese reception with the artists. On Saturday afternoon January 28th at 2 PM Alla

Text Box: Zahaykevych from Kyiv will conduct a music workshop as part of the festival. You must preregister for the workshop yara.arts.group@gmail.com The art exhibit will be open to the general public Saturday and Sunday 2:00 – 5:00 PM. During a special performance on Saturday January 28th at 8PM Yara actor will perform poetry by poets such as Oksana Lutsyshyna, Serhiy Zhadan, Oleh Lysheha and Kateryna Babkina in their signature style, interweaving the original text with its translation, the two languages entering into dialogue with each other. Hilka Ensemble will perform songs from the Chornobyl Songs Project and Ukraine’s foremost electronic composer Alla Zahaykevych will perform her work. The evening will conclude with music by Marusia Sonevytsky’s Debutante Hour. Then Chef Olesia Lew from Veselka Bowery will welcome the audience to taste her poetic re-imaginations of Ukrainian cuisine. Sunday afternoon at 2 PM,

Text Box: Watoku Ueno will present Music in the Wood a shadow puppet show. The show, performed in English, will feature original Japanese shadow puppets in a story about beautiful music that emerges from inside a tree. This beautiful puppet show has fascinated all its audiences, and is appropriate for children from 6 to 106. Yara Arts Group is a resident company at the internationally acclaimed La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York. Re-Imagine: Ourselves is the 18th major cultural event that Yara has presented at the Ukrainian Institute. Tickets for Re-Imagine: Ourselves are available for each event at the door– Friday $15 Saturday $30, Sunday $10. Re-Imagine: Ourselves was made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Self-Reliance (NY) FCU and The Coca Cola Company. For further information call Yara at (212) 475-6474 or yara.arts.group@gmail.com. yara.arts.group@gmail.com