Беларускія фэстывалі й выстаўкі ў Нью Джэрзі
Янка Запруднік
Выдавец: Беларускі Інстытут Навукі й Мастацтва
Памер: 219с.
Нью Йорк 2013
“1 had to dance as a boy"
Vera Zaprudnik, a member of the Vasilok dance group, adds her recollection.
The night before the first festival at Garden State Arts Center, while packing the obvious, my sister Nina and I thought to pack a few items that maybe, possibly, might be needed in a pinch, including a pair of our black pants. Just in case.
The day of the show, some of our boys decided to partake in the sports activities earlier in the day, and as luck would not have it, one of our boys sprained his ankle. What to do? How would we go on with the numbers this guy danced in? 1 heard my name being screamed down the hall, back stage. Alla Romano, our dance director/choreographer, who had already recruited a boy from Canada to substitute in the dance Mikita, and reconfigured Karahod, which wasn’t strictly a dance for couples, for one less boy, informed me, “You have to go on in Kadri I.’’ This was a new dance in the Vasilok repertoire and no dancer that wasn’t already in it, knew it, except me. When dancers had been missing from practices, Alla used me to fill every whole in the number, no matter how much I complained that 1 should get to sit and rest because, after all, I wasn’t in this dance.
Now, how to camouflage a girl dancing in the place of a boy? Alla tried to hide my hair with a hat, but it wouldn’t stay on. All the boys’ boots were too big, so I went on with girls’ boots, wearing a boy’s shirt and vest. Good thing we packed those black pants, at least we didn’t have to take a pair off a boy.
That is how I ended up dancing as a boy, on stage, in public, with Luda Rusak Grant as the girl in our couple. The number went off without a hitch.
BELAKUSIAN AKT EXHIBITIONS IN SOUTH KIVEK AND ELSEWHEKE
In South River, N.J., from 1973 through 1997, twenty five annual exhibitions took place.32 Their visitors were mostly BelarusianAmericans, but there were also outside guests, including representatives of local authorities. South River, New Jersey, a town of about
Some of the artists who participated in the South River art show.
View of the exhibition hall.
15,000, became home to a vibrant Belarusian community. It consisted mostly of political refugees who arrived from Western Europe during the early 1950s. Communal life assumed various forms — a sports club, choirs, dancing group, publishing company, etc. Much of the activity was
centered in the Christian Orthodox parish of St. Euphrosynia of Polatsk headed by the Rev. Mikalaj Lapitzki and under the jurisdiction of the Constantinople Patriarchate. In 1972, the community completed an ambitious project — construction of a church and an assembly hall for about 300 people. The new Belarusian Community Center spread over three acres of land on the outskirts of the town (Whitehead Avenue). The hall building included a stage, a spacious kitchen, a bar with a pool table, an apartment, a printing shop, and other facilities.
Senior members of the community — most of all Barys Scors (Shchors), Ksienafont Vajciachouski (Wojciechowski), Ivan Kosiak, Anton Danilovich and others — suggested that the younger members organize an art exhibition. The idea seemed feasible because there
Participants in ethnic dress parade at the Arts & Craft show in South River.
were many talented members in the group. In addition, families had objects of art and artifacts brought from the Old Country that, if gathered, could provide an impressive display of colors and designs to warm one's heart.
Soon, thanks to the energetic efforts of Irene Rahalewicz (later, Dutko), the first exhibition was organized (1973) and proved to be an undisputable success. Irene, assisted by many enthusiasts, managed to carry on the tradition of the annual art exhibitions for 25 years.
The exhibitions took place around the date of the 25th of March, when Belarusians in the Free World observe the anniversary of the proclamation of independence of the Belarusian National Republic (BNR). A week before such observances, the hall of the Belarusian
Community Center was transformed into a virtual museum. On its walls and long tables, paintings, photographs, folk costumes, embroidered shirts, pillows, woven belts, straw-inlaid boxes, statuettes, and other artifacts were displayed as testimony of the Belarusian cultural heritage and historical memory.
The shows, as a rule, opened on a Sunday one week before the Independence Day celebration. In the afternoon, following the church service, parishioners and invited guests flocked to the community hall.
Lanok performing at South River Festival 2009.
There, Irene Rahalewicz-Dutko opened the show welcoming the visitors, presenting the participating artists, and soliciting donations to cover the expense of the cocktail-and-coffee hour that capped off the festive afternoon.
Nearly two hundred individuals participated in these art and crafts exhibitions that lasted for twenty five years. Their names can be found in the previously mentioned publication Belarusan Artists Abroad.
After a several-year pause, the St. Euphrosynia Church community in South River, reinforced by new talents from post-Soviet Belarus, has launched annual festivals that include Belarusian folk dances, songs, book exhibitions, souvenirs and traditional cuisine.
It is important to add here that, beside the above mentioned exhibitions marking the BNR Independence anniversary, presentations of Belarusian art and crafts took place in many other New Jersey locations: colleges, museums, public libraries and other venues. For example, a Christmas tree, bedecked by traditional Belarusian ornaments,
that had been put up annually is among a dozen of such exhibits in the Hungarian Museum in New Brunswick for over the last ten years. This participation was initiated by the late Halina Rusak and is being continued by Serge Tryhubovich and Katsia Reznikova.
GOVERNOR’S ETHNIC ADVISORY COUNCIL
New Jersey’s Ethnic Advisory Council the first such body in the United States — was established by Governor Brendan Byrne in April 1978 “to recommend programs regarding ethnic communities; to promote ethnic and cultural events; and to develop policies affecting ethnic neighborhoods”. Dr. Vitaut Kipel was its first chairman. He spoke about ethnic affairs in New Jersey and the council’s tasks in an interview for the monthly Bielarus in October 1978 (excerpts).33
Question: Black people have taken for a slogan “Black is Beautiful.” What slogan do ethnics have?
Answer: That’s exactly what I was talking about with a correspondent of the New Jersey daily, Record, recently. We have a slogan “Everything is Beautiful.” (...)
Q.: How do you explain that an Ethnic Advisory Council was created namely in New Jersey and not in any other state?
A.: Primarily due to the number of New Jersey’s ethnic groups and their activity. Now there are 65 of them and they have over 1700 ethnic organizations. These are the figures that any politician who wants to be in power in Trenton, the state’s capital, would reckon with. The activity of ethnic groups, including small ones, has been on the upswing lately in connection with the bicentennial of the United States. It still continues, I think that the newspaper Bielarus has most of its subscribers in New Jersey. New Jersey has the largest number of ethnic radio shows and TV programs. Another characteristic of New Jersey is that ethnic groups are spread all over the state.
Q.: How is the council structured?
A.: The council is created by the governor. The latter also appoints its chairman. Presently, apart from Belarusians, the following groups are represented in the council: Hindus, Chinese, Jews, Irish, Hungarians, Slovenians, Puerto Ricans, Russians, Germans, Blacks, Poles, Ukrainians, Cubans, Italians, and Koreans. The council’s chairman, for his part, appoints heads and members of committees (educational, cultural, and social). There is also a liaison for contacts with the governor. The council’s office is in Trenton. (...)
Q.: How are Belarusians doing in this scheme of work?
A.: I think the Belarusian group is on a good level. Belarusians have many organizations, well established religious life and have quite active young people. Externally, they participate in many local events: festivals, meetings, conferences, etc. A significant role in populariza-
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tion of the Belarusian name is fulfilled by our artists’ participation in exhibitions. For five years, by now, art exhibitions have been taking place in South River. A great popularizing work is being done by youth dancing groups, Vasilok (corn flower), Lanok (flax), and Matylki (butteflies) and two Belarusian choirs, Kalina (guelder rose) and a national
choir. Belarusians are actively participating in American political life, in elections, occupy administrative positions in both parties, Democratic and Republican. I have to say with great pleasure that we initiated publication of an English-language book, Ethnic Experience in New Jersey, which is being used as a textbook in state’s schools as well as a reference book, compiled by Zora Kipel, about ethnic groups and organizations. It was the first such publication, already sold out. We were the ones among five groups which initiated in 1974 a proposal to start restoration of the “Island of Tears” (Ellis Island) and build there a museum of immigration a project that is being advanced now toward its realization. To sum up, activities of the Belarusian group have been aimed in all directions.
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