There is no credit to UVAS at the start of the film. This film is a documentary biography of the dancer and choreographer Ostap Buriak. It is divided into several sections, beginning with Ostap Buriak talking about his life, then exploring his collection of photographs and documents about his life, capturing scenes in his dance studio and finishing with further biographical information. The film was made over at least two visits to Mr Buriak’s house. Although there is some repetition...

There is no credit to UVAS at the start of the film. This film is a documentary biography of the dancer and choreographer Ostap Buriak. It is divided into several sections, beginning with Ostap Buriak talking about his life, then exploring his collection of photographs and documents about his life, capturing scenes in his dance studio and finishing with further biographical information. The film was made over at least two visits to Mr Buriak’s house. Although there is some repetition between the various sections of the film, the interviewers draw out more detail as the interview progresses. The film is entirely in Ukrainian and was made by the Ukrainian Video Archives Society (UVAS). It begins by showing Ostap Buriak sitting at the table in the kitchen of his house, dressed smartly in a suit and bow tie. Behind him on the wall are various photographs, greetings cards, pictures and news cuttings. The interviewer introduces Mr Buriak. The scene then cuts, the film restarts and the same scene repeats, this time with the interviewer saying that this will be an interview about Mr Buriak’s life and work, and asks if he gives his consent to the interview. The first question concerns Mr Buriak’s biography, to which he replies by reading a prepared piece from a red exercise book. He talks about his early life in Ukraine, ballet training, draft into the Red Army and subsequent time as a Prisoner of War, life in a German Displaced Persons Camp where he managed to dance and set up a dance group, meeting his wife Kateryna and coming to the UK, life in London and Bradford and work as a dance teacher and choreographer, his work within the Bradford Ukrainian community where he established the Krylati Dance Ensemble. He mentions Mrs Melnyk who made costumes, Mr Pilak who made boots and postoly, Olya Stepova and the late Mykhailo Jackiw, who he trained as Krylati teachers. His final comments concern his children, Anastasia and Mykhalylo, who are both dancers, noting that Mykhaylo founded Metelyk (Butterfly) dance ensemble in Reading. He finishes by commenting that he has no family left in Ukraine, as they all either died during the Holodomor or during the Second World War. This section ends at 30 mins 28 secs. The next section of the film attempts to document more detail about Mr Buriak’s life and career, by using the various photographs and framed items he has on display in his house. The scene begins with view of family and professional photographs, over which is the sound of a conversation between the interviewer, Wolodymyr Demtschuk, and Mr and Mrs Buriak. The photographs include professional shots of Mr Buriak as a ballet and folk dancer, group photographs with students, a photograph of the scorecard for Opportunity Knocks (where the Ostap Buriak dancers came third), and the couple’s wedding photograph and photographs of their children. During the conversation, the interviewer tries to encourage Mr Buriak to speak more about his early life in Ukraine. Mr Buriak is clearly relucent to do so, and there is mention of the Holod (Holodomor), which may explain his reticence. The camera moves to another wall of framed letters, photographs and certificates, including dancing qualifications from both Germany and the UK. A good number relate to his son Mychaylo and Metelyk dance ensemble. The conversation continues off camera with Mr Buriak discussing dance, art and his career. The camera captures more of the items on the walls, various trophies and family photographs, and there is a glimpse of Mrs Buriak. The next scene focuses on Mr Buriak who is again seated at the table, in conversation with the interviewer, who is off screen. Mr Buriak is reluctant to give long answers, but they discuss his inspiration, his training, types of dances, the importance of arts education in independent Ukraine, the heritage of Ukrainian dance back to the Cossack period, and dance education in general, and how a love of dance is central to success of any kind. The next scene in the film is shot in Mr Buriak’s studio in his house. The studio is decorated with posters of concerts and performances, news cuttings, a Union Jack, framed photographs, a large mirror and ballet bar. Mr Buriak puts on a record of classical piano music and continues to discuss dance and his career with the interviewer. He mentions dancing with the Royal Ballet in London for a short period and being a ballet master in the early 1950s, and his use of French as a lingua franca in teaching. He arrived in Bradford in 1948 when there were very few Ukrainians in the city, and began dancing at concerts as there was nobody else to do it, other than a singer from Rochdale with whom he performed. These early concerts were in English and Ukrainian, and open to everyone. Mr Buriak then demonstrates some ballet poses against the bar. The scene then cuts to a discussion about continuing filming the demonstration another time, and the conversation returns to dance education for children and the differences between Ukrainian folk dance and classical dance. This section ends at 1 hr 32 mins 13 secs. The next section of the film begins with Mr Buriak standing in front of a number of photographs. The interviewer is off screen and asks if Mr Buriak will talk them through his archive of photographs and documents. The camera very carefully pans across all the walls and all the photographs. The discussion and images include various incarnations of Krylati over the years, the Halifax dancers, Krylati’s appearance on Coming Dancing, dancing in a Displaced Person’s Camp in Mannheim in 1945, photographs of his son Mychaylo and Metelyk dance ensemble, family photographs, certificates and awards including one for his dance work in the French zone in Germany after the war. A number of badges, medals and trophies are also shown and described, amongst which are items relating to his presidency of the Anglo Dominion Association of Teachers of Dancing and for a dance group he led in the Red Army. Also significant amongst these items is the first photograph of the Ukrainian ballet in Bradford dating from 1947. The next scene moves to a view of the table, which is covered with photographs and certificates from Mr Buriak’s career. They include photographs and programmes of Krylati’s performances, photographs of Patriarch Josef Slipyj, Prince Philip, the Sunshine School of Dancing where he taught and choreographed a dance for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. There are also envelopes of photographs of the first Ukrainian dance school in Bradford dated 1948, his presidency of the Theatrical Association Teachers of Tap and Stage Dance, photos of Kryalti at Come Dancing with Terry Wogan, a photograph of dance school in Blackpool where he taught classical, Ukrainian and Hungarian dance, amongst other material. The interviewer shakes hands with Mr Buriak and thanks him, but Mr Buriak recalls a pile of scrapbooks he has forgotten about. They then review these volumes which are full of press cuttings and programmes. The interviewer thanks him again in order to bring the interview to a close, but Mr Buriak says he has something else to say. The scene switches to Mr Buriak sitting down next to Mrs Buriak and reading a prepared speech. He introduces Kateryna to whom he has been married for more than forty years, praises her and their marriage, which has lasted for almost 50 years, their children and their partners, who all respect the family’s Ukrainian traditions. The family send parcels to Mrs Buriak’s family in Ukraine and Mr Buriak doesn’t have any family left. He speaks about the arts and how many of his former students have forged careers in the arts. He thanks UVAS for creating the film, and the off-screen interviewer returns the thanks. This section ends at 2hrs 30 mins 31 secs. The final section opens with Mr Melnyczuk as the interviewer. He thanks Mr Buriak and says they need to leave. The scene quickly changes again to Mr Buriak standing in front of a door on which a number of photographs are displayed and Mr Buriak gives a quick overview of what they are. The scene changes again to close ups of the photos with a more detailed description of them all, many of them are the same as those which were described earlier in the film. The scene changes again to Mr Buriak holding an exercise book which has been used as a scrapbook for news cuttings and the camera focuses on the book. It shows press clippings from the 1950s including a boy scout troop which he trained and the first iteration of Krylati; Julia Lanova one of his students who won medals; a workshop he did in London in 1955 for English students; an Anglo Dominion Association of Teachers of Dancing Syllabus of Dancing which he authored; more news clippings about Krylati, Mr Buriak’s career, a dance group at Tarasivka that was made up of various dancers from Western Europe; a photograph signed by Yaroslav and Slava Stetsko; teaching certificates; a card for the Ukrainian Cossacks (a dance trio which included Mykhalo Jackiw); a medal to remember the anniversary of Patriarch Josef Slipyj; photos of the third generation of Krylati. The scene changes again to close up of family photographs including his wife’s close family members, himself when he arrived in England in 1948, a wedding photo of himself and Kateryna in Germany in 1945, his children’s wedding photographs. There follow more close ups of photographs of his past career, events, groups and performances, and then the camera pans out to view across all the photos. Then scene changes to focus just on the photograph of Mr Buriak in 1948 when he came to the UK, followed by a shot of a wall of photos with this portrait at the front. The film ends at 2 hrs 54 mins 32 secs