Halyna Lazurko
Halyna Lazurko has been the musical director for the Verkhovyna Choir since 1994 and brings a wealth of musical experiences to the choir's performances. Halyna holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Calgary (1979), an ARCT in piano performance (1980), and a licentiate in clarinet (1979). She subsequently studied choral conducting with the late Maestro Volodymyr Kolesnyk (former director of the Taras Shevchenko State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Kyiv) and took voice training with Larry Benson, a known artist in Edmonton. She has worked as an accompanist for the Alberta Ballet School and numerous soloists including, most recently, Svetlana Sech, an Edmonton based soprano. In her youth, Halyna was a member of Calgary's Ukrainian Youth Association choir and the Veselka Ensemble, with whom she produced an album of Ukrainian folk songs. She founded and directed the Chayka mixed choir in Calgary from 1980 to 1986; she produced a one-hour television program highlighting Ukrainian Christmas traditions and song.
Tamara Tatuch
Tamara Tatuch brings over 20 years experience as a dance instructor and choreographer to the ensemble, as well as an extensive knowledge in Ukrainian costuming, music and folklore. She has had the pleasure of working with some of the most innovative choreographers from the most highly acclaimed groups in both Canada and Ukraine. Among them, she has received training from choreographers of Virsky, Yunist, and Veriovka in Ukraine, and Volya and Cheremosh in Canada. Tamara has experience in a variety of dance styles including Ukrainian, Ballet, and Character, and holds a Diploma as a Dance Instructor Choreographer from the Avramenko Institute of Ukrainian Folk Dance under the auspices of the Kyiv Institute of Culture in Ukraine. Tamara is an enthusiastic and motivational teacher that currently teaches dancers in Sherwood Park, and Edmonton.
Shawn Owchar
Shawn Owchar brings over 26 years of Ukrainian dance experience and 13 years of Ukrainian dance instruction to the Dunai dancers. As a dancer, most of his experience comes from dancing with the Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company where he auditioned and was accepted into the group in April of 1991. With Cheremosh, Shawn performed over 500 performances across Canada, the United States, and Scotland until he finally retired in July of 2006. Shawn trained and studied under the tutelage of Ballet Master Mykola Kanevets, Artistic Director of Cheremosh, where he learned a variety of dance styles including Ukrainian, Ballet, and Character. Throughout his dance career, Shawn also attended Alberta Ukrainian Dance Association (AUDA) senior level workshops and performed with the Stage Polaris Alchemical Dramatic Society. In 1997, Shawn also completed the Arts and Cultural Management program from Grant MacEwan Community College, which is a specialized program geared towards the management of arts organizations in Canada. From there, Shawn was the Coordinator of the Cheremosh Dance Festival from 1996 to 1998 and the Technical Producer of the Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company's "New Beginnings" 30th Anniversary Tour from 1998 to 1999. Shawn began his teaching career in 1994 and has also been a Substitute Instructor for Cheremosh on numerous occasions. Since 1994, Shawn has taught in dance schools throughout Alberta including Edmonton, Sherwood Park, Gibbons, Innisfree, and St. Paul.