These dancers have stomped, kicked and leaped around the country in styles reflective of their Cossack, Jewish, Ukrainian, Roma or Russian origins.
The Barynya Ensemble has spent more than 30 years sharing traditional music, dance and culture and will perform on Tuesday at Old Dominion University.
Arts@ODU collaborated with the ODU Russian Club to produce the show. Club president, 19-year-old sophomore Kyle Ritner, said it wanted to bring back the ensemble after last year’s performance, which was open only to select students and staff.
The club wanted to make sure everyone got the chance to experience the spectacle.
“The different ways that they express themselves through song and dance — it was very colorful,” Ritner said.
The group wears Russian sarafans, long folk dresses, with kokoshnik headdresses. Members play the mandolin and the balalaika contrabass.
“We have all sorts of people living in Russia, so we're trying to show their dancing and music,” said Mikhail Smirnov, artistic director and founder of Ensemble Barynya.
Smirnov was born in Moscow. After he became a performer and traveled Russia, he noticed that even from one village to the next, there would be differences in the music and dance.
He started Ensemble Barynya in 1991 in New York City. Its first show included three performers at a Long Island Russian restaurant.
Today, the ensemble has more than 20 dancers and musicians from all over the world. They’ve performed in every U.S. state at schools, hospice centers and weddings, and also at Carnegie Hall, the National Constitution Center and on NBC's "Today" show.
“It's a cultural thing,” he said, about the group's appeal. “Dancing, music. What else do people like? People like dance, music and food. That's it.”
“We're doing traditional dances. It's been known for centuries … We're just doing what's supposed to be done.”
The dance and music aren't new, but they are to most American audiences, who rarely get to glimpse a traditional celebration in a Russian village.
Ritner said everything was new to him: the instruments, the garments, the atmosphere. And he learned a lot.
“Song is a very good way to learn how to speak a language,” he said about last year’s performance. “It really gave a different look at the culture that we don't necessarily get to see as much of in the class.”
Smirnov said there are few Russian groups touring the U.S. right now.
“People in Virginia don't have a chance to see Russians performing for them all the time.” Smirnov said, “It would be a good idea to see.”
Tickets are $15 for the general public; $10 for ODU staff and faculty; $5 for ODU students. The performance is at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 20, Mills Godwin Life Sciences Building, 5115 Hampton Blvd. Visit oduartstix.universitytickets.com for tickets and more information.