Interview with Ostap Buriak, Choreographer
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Interview with Ostap Buriak, Choreographer
Ballet-master and choreographer Ostap Buriak carries on the traditions of Ukrainian dance in the Bradford community.
Ostap Buriak was born in a village outside Kyiv. He studied dance and choreography in St Petersburg, Kyiv, Odesa and Kharkiv and worked in theatre and film in Kharkiv, L'viv and Kyiv. His dance career was cut short in 1941, when he was drafted into the Red Army, later becoming a Prisoner of War in Germany.
After liberation by the French in 1945, he danced with a French group named Figaro and met his future wife, Kateryna Sorota. Whilst in the French zone, he set up a Ukrainian folk-dance ensemble which gave concerts in Heidleberg for American Soldiers. He continued to teach dance in Germany, working as a ballet master in Manheim in 1947.
He and Kateryna left Germany on 30 December 1947 to come to the UK, settling first in London and then moving to Bradford. He worked as a dancer and choreographer in the UK at various dance companies and dance schools and performed Ukrainian dance both the diaspora community and more widely.
He established Krylati (The Winged Ones) as the representative dance ensemble for the Bradford branch of CYM (Association of Ukrainian Youth) in 1963. He continued to teach Krylati and take an active part in Ukrainian community life until his death in 1995.
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Bradford Ukrainian Community Life
The largest and most active Ukrainian community in the UK diaspora thrives in Bradford.
Ukrainians have lived in Bradford since the end of the Second World War. The community was established by displaced Ukrainian men and women who came to the UK as displaced people from camps in West Germany and Austria under Westward Ho!, the European Volunteer Workers (EVWs) scheme.
In Bradford, EVWs were placed into jobs in the textile industry to fill labour shortages and were initially housed in hostels and private rented accommodation. They were joined by members of the Ukrainian Army Division who came to the UK from camps in Italy.
These early settlers founded the Bradford branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB) in 1947, established other community organisations and worshipped in both the Ukrainian Greek Catholic (Uniate) and Orthodox faiths. This collection is a snapshot of the Ukrainian community which settled in Bradford and continues to be one of the largest and most active in the UK's Ukrainian diaspora.
10 videos in this collection
1
2
Commemoration of Ukrainian Heroines
3
Interview with Ostap Buriak, Choreographer
4
Easter Basket Blessing by Father Hutornyj
5
Building of the New Ukrainian School at Westfield
6
Kolos Bakery's 25th Anniversary
7
10th Anniversary of Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
8
50th Anniversary AUGB in Bradford
9
50th Anniversary of Ukrainian Youth Association
10