Vasile Avramenko
Production
Biography
A Ukrainian actor, dancer, choreographer, balletmaster, director and film producer, credited with spreading Ukrainian folk dance across the world. For his unparalleled missionary ardency and his love of Ukrainian culture, he is considered by many to be the "Father of Ukrainian Dance". During his lifetime, Vasyl Avramenko created many Ukrainian dance studios, including one in New York City where he lived until his death. He staged performances across Canada and USA, including the Chicago World's Fair of 1933 and a performance at the White House. In the 1930s, Avramenko also produced Ukrainian movies.
Known For
Engaged couple broken up by devilish hunchback, the richest man in the village, who is himself smitten with the bride-to-be. An American film in the Ukrainian language, based on the 1872 Ukrainian play "Oy Ne Khody Hrytsiu Tam Na Vechernytsi" by M. Staritsky.
Marusia
In Ukraine, in 1775, the Zaporogian Cossacks learn that Moscow is sending soldiers to destroy their fort. The Ukrainian villagers appeal to Czarina Catherine, but she insists that they join the Russian army or risk annihilation. Instead, the Cossacks burn their fort and flee on the Danube River to Turkey, where they live in peace, but still yearn for their homeland.
Cossacks in Exile
Based on the famous operetta, Natalka Poltavka was the first Ukrainian film directed in the USA. Natalka and Petro want to get married, but Natalka's father doesn't approve of the marriage — there are more affluent men in the village. Petro goes off to earn the required fortune.
Natalka Poltavka
Documentary-filmed events in the Carpatho-Ukraine (aka Ruthenia) during 1939 drive this history of the Ukraine's struggle for independence as a nation.
The Tragedy of Carpatho-Ukraine
A documentary film"The Triumph of Ukrainian Dance" (1954) Avramenko worked on for 25 years received great international acclaim after being shown in cinemas across the US and Europe. Although largely an American production, the film documents Vasyl Avramenko's impact on the development of Ukrainian dance in such Canadian cities as Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton for over a quarter of a century.