Posted May 19, 2022

On May 15, St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jenkintown hosted a benefit performance featuring the Voloshky School of Ukrainian Dance, with guest appearances by the Voloshky Ensemble, Kruno Spisic Gypsy Jazz and the Metropolitan Ballet Academy and Company.

(Read a feature story on the May 15 Ukrainian dance festival at St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jenkintown.)

Traditional Ukrainian foods and crafts, along with an array of auction items, rounded out the event, with all proceeds benefiting the Ukrainian Federation of America’s relief efforts for Ukraine, now in the third month of a full-scale invasion by Russia that has killed thousands and displaced some 13 million.

(Photos by Gina Christian.)

  • Teodora-Mariia Lukavenko, a student of the Voloshky School, performs a traditional Ukrainian dance during a May 15 benefit hosted by St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jenkintown, the proceeds from which will support humanitarian aid to children in Ukraine amid a Russian invasion.

  • Traditional Ukrainian dancers took to the air a number of times during a May 15 benefit hosted by St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jenkintown, the proceeds from which will provide humanitarian aid for children in war-torn Ukraine.

  • Students of the Voloshky School performed numerous Ukrainian folk dances at a May 15 benefit for Ukrainian children hosted by St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jenkintown.

  • Rev. Taras Naumenko, dean of St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Philadelphia (left), greets Father Ostap Mykytchyn, assistant priest at St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church in Jenkintown, which hosted a May 15 traditional dance festival to support humanitarian relief for Ukrainian children.

  • Members of the Voloshky Ensemble, directed by Taras Lewyckyj, provided a stylized commentary on the current invasion of Ukraine with the “Puppet Dance,” banned by the Soviet Union during the 1970’s.

  • At the May 15 dance festival, Father Roman Pitula, rector of the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Philadelphia, caught up with his friend Rev. Taras Naumenko, dean of St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Philadelphia.