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Verkhovyna School of Dance Instructors

Natalia Iwaszko-Soto

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With over 30 years of Ukrainian dance experience, Natalia’s very first dance lessons began at the Verkhovyna Dance School. The Verkhovyna Ensemble and CYM has been a major part of her life. Natalia was a member of Dunai Ukrainian Dancers for 15 years where she performed and toured with the group throughout the world across North and South America, Europe and Costa Rica. With the Verkhovyna Ensemble she took part on the 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 anniversary tours. On the 2019, Georgia and Ukraine tour, Natalia took on the role as assistant to the Artistic Directorof Dunai and co-directed the tour show. Her training in Ukrainian Dance consists of a wide variety of local and international instructors. She has training in the Shumka Dance Syllabus Academy and has attended workshops in Tier 1 - Syllabus for Ukrainian Dance.

Natalia began teaching at Verkhovyna Dance School in 2009. She has had the pleasure of getting to know all the dancers in the school and has seen their progression and growth over the years. She has traveled with the school to many competitions and various dance performance venues including Disneyland in 2016 and 2018. In 2014 and 2015, she was recognized for her hard work and dedication, and was nominated by her students for “Ukrainian Dance Instructor of the Year” by Ukrainian Dance World. Throughout her dance career, Natalia’s passion for dance and music continues to grow and is driven to learn a variety of dance. 2016-2018 she competitively salsa danced and placed 2nd and 3rd in small teams amateur and open divisions, at the World Salsa Summit in Miami, Florida. Natalia is always looking for new and innovative ways to make dance and choreography fun to all the students. She is very excited for the new dance season and is looking forward to sharing her passion for dance with returning and new students to the school. Her expertise and enthusiasm for dance are a great addition to the instructional team. 

Loren Winnick

Loren has been Ukrainian dancing for over twenty five years. Currently he is a member of the Volya Ukrainian Dance Ensemble where he has performed in Turkey, Portugal, France, Great Britain, Greece, Colombia and Croatia. Previously he danced for nine years with Kupalo Ukrainian Dance Ensemble where he performed throughout Canada, Western U.S.A., Ireland, Ukraine and Scotland. He has traveled with the school to many competitions and various dance performance venues including Disneyland this summer 2018 to partake at the Disney Performing Arts. In 2016 and 2017, his students nominated him for “Ukrainian Dance Instructor of the Year” by Ukrainian Dance World. Loren has been teaching with Verkhovyna for the past 10 years and is extremely excited to be back again to share his knowledge and passion of Ukrainian dancing with the students.

Steven Murrell

Steven comes from Edmonton, Alberta and has been immersed in Ukrainian Dance and Culture since a young child. Steven began dancing at the age of 4 at Holyrood bilingual elementary, a public school that taught Ukrainian curriculum. While he was attending Holyrood, his parents felt he could further excel at dance, and as such, he was registered at St. Andrews Ukrainian Dance School where he attended until the age of 11. After St. Andrews, Steven then joined the first class of Volya School of Dance where he further improved under the instruction of Bohdan and Svitlana Tkachishyn. At the age of 16, and with Volya under the new artistic direction of Zhenia Bahri, Steven was asked to apprentice for Volya Ukrainian Dance Ensemble.

As an apprentice dancer, Steven learned the professional attitude and culture of Volya and was performing dances with them within his first year. Steven would be a part of the Volya family for the following 16 years, participating as an executive member and dancer in many shows, including AUDA’s “Hopak in the park” in 2005 and 2006, where the top 4 couples from every professional Ukrainian dance group in Alberta we chosen to perform. With Volya, Steven also had the opportunity to travel the world with Volya to many countries such as Azçores, Brazil, Germany and the United States. Steven began teaching Ukrainian dance in the early 2000”s at St Andrews Veerneest Dance school. After a few year of dance teaching experience, and with a passion to share Ukrainian culture/dance with children and adults to further their knowledge and physical health, Steven began to venture out to other communities and dance clubs to teach Ukrainian Dance. Steven enjoys and continues to look forward to sharing his passion of Ukrainian Dance with others.

Kasia & Nick Podilsky

To say that Kasia and Nick have a love for Ukrainian dance would not do their passion justice. They each have 28 years of dancer experience, and are proud to have spent the last decade as Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Company members. It was during their performing tour of Australia with Cheremosh that led to their engagement, and in June of 2022 they finally tied the knot.

A recipient of the Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts Top 30 Under 30 award, Kasia holds a degree in Stage Management from the University of Alberta, and both have continued their dance education through various workshops. They each have sat on a variety of boards including the Ukrainian Cheremosh Society and Alberta Ukrainian Dance Association.

Kasia began teaching dance as a substitute throughout the province before becoming an instructor for the Cheremosh School of Dance, where Nick currently instructs after previously assisting Mykola Kanevets with the Cheremosh Academy students. In 2019, Kasia became an instructor at the Fort McMurray Avrora Ukrainian Dance Club, and was proud to take on the role of Artistic Director in 2022 alongside her husband. This teamwork has brought them even closer together, and has allowed them to use their combined years of experience to make their students shine brighter than ever. In 2023 they joined the amazing team of instructors at Verkhovyna School of Dance, and look forward to being a part of this incredible community! 

Kayla Devaux

Kayla Devaux is not one who can say that she has been dancing since she could move her feet, but she can say that it took only one class for her to discover her new and long standing passion with Ukrainian Dance. The journey began at the age of ten when she moved to Peace River, it continued in Grande Prairie and it now fulfills her life as her career around the province.

She has been very fortunate to have studied dance in Ukraine four times, each experience being very different from the others. In 2007, she attended the Virsky Summer Camp in Kyiv, the following year her dance club travelled with Cobblestone Freeway participating in a variety of workshops, and in 2011 and 2015 she joined Cobblestone Freeway for the Ukrainian Dance Workshop Tours. She has participated in the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s teacher training summer program, as well as numerous instructor workshops throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan each summer. Within these experiences, she has studied in depth Hutzel, Bukovynia, Pokuttia, Podillia, Poltava, Transcarpathian, Volyn, Boiko, Hopak tricks, Character Barre along with aspects such as creating an appropriate repertoire for all ages. She can hardly wait for her next learning experience!

Kayla has been teaching dancers of all ages for over eighteen years around the province, currently teaching in Red Deer (10 years), Parkland (3 years) and now Verkhoyvna. She follows the Shumka Syllabus in her studios and truly finds joy in teaching dance and creating choreography!

To be a part of the continuity of our culture and heritage, Kayla is the current President of the Alberta Ukrainian Dance Association, serving her eighth year on the board.

Kayla is extremely excited to be a part of the Verkhovyna school with a tremendous team of instructors.