Dancer, musician.
Born in the North End of Winnipeg in 1919, as a child he performed as a Ukrainian dancer and violin-playing tap dancer. During the Second World War, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and entertained troops in Newfoundland and Labrador as a dancer and musician. After the war, he became the principal dancer of the Don Cossack Chorus and Dancers, based at New York City, and toured the United States and Asia. In 1944, he married Lilja Sigurbjorg Thorsteinson and they lived in New York and Los Angeles before returning to Winnipeg in 1951, where he worked for the Health Services Commission. Together, they were founding members of the Community Folk Arts Council of Winnipeg. In the late 1960s, he was a member of a small group that organized a small multicultural street festival and grew larger over time and, in 1970, was named Folklorama. He was Chair of Folklorama in the late 1970s, for which he received a City of Winnipeg Community Service Award (1979). He retired to Richmond, British Columbia in 1985 and died there on 8 December 2020.
“‘He was just truly special’: Pillar of Winnipeg Ukrainian community, founding member of Folklorama dies at 101,” CTV News, 12 December 2020.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 19 December 2020.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 8 September 2024
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