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.

This is a documentary of the dancer and choreographer Ostap Buriak which is divided into several sections. This excerpt features Buriak in his dance studio. Here he discusses the importance of arts education in independent Ukraine, the heritage of Ukrainian dance back to the kozak period and dance education in general and how a love of dance is central to success of any kind. The studio is decorated with posters of concerts and performances, news cuttings, a Union Jack, framed photographs, a large mirror and ballet bar. Buriak puts on a record of classical piano music and continues to discuss dance and his career with the interviewer.

He mentions dancing with the Royal Ballet in London for a short period and being a ballet master in the early 1950s and his use of French as a lingua franca in teaching. He arrived in Bradford in 1948 when there were very few Ukrainians in the city and began dancing at concerts as there was nobody else to do it, other than a singer from Rochdale with whom he performed. These early concerts were in English and Ukrainian and open to everyone.

Buriak then demonstrates some ballet poses against the bar. The scene then cuts to a discussion about continuing filming the demonstration another time and the conversation returns to dance education for children and the differences between Ukrainian folk dance and classical dance.