ST. PAUL – A young dancer from St. Paul will be performing with the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers for the dance company’s much anticipated annual Nutcracker productions. Shumka adds Ukrainian themes to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1892 two-act ballet, incorporating elements like symbols, music, and costumes of Ukrainian origin.
Shumka is a professional Ukrainian dance company formed in Edmonton in 1959. Since then, the group has performed throughout the nation and across the world.
Finn Haugen, 11, earned a children’s role for Shumka’s Nutcracker production. He said he was excited, but also nervous, because he’s never performed with such a big dance group before.
Haugen has been dancing since he was four years old, inspired by his mother – Erin Haugen – who is also a Ukrainian dancer. Both Erin and Finn performed in the St. Paul and District Arts Foundation’s annual Nutcracker production held Dec. 2 and 3.
Finn’s other inspirations include Dave Ganert, who has been teaching Finn for the last six years. Ganert was the artistic director with this year’s St. Paul and District Art Foundation’s production of the Nutcracker, and also an instructor with the St. Paul Ukrainian Dance Club.
Dancing is challenging. It’s athletic, and as a young dancer, Finn also has to juggle a variety of commitments.
But for Finn, his biggest challenge is performing before a large crowd. “What I do to overcome that is just to pretend like I’m dancing at a studio again,” away from the sight of an audience, he explains.
And with challenges come rewards. Finn says he feels rewarded and satisfied with his craft and efforts knowing he “did well,” considering feedback from his dance teachers, co-dancers, and judges at competitions.
Finn says he hopes to perform again with Shumka in the future, when he’s older.
As a mother, Erin is proud of her son’s accomplishments. Dancing in itself poses mental and physical demands, she acknowledges. Boys doing Ukrainian dance “are doing some pretty amazing flips, and tricks, and things like that,” she says with a laugh.
And sometimes, challenges can be social, particularly for youth like Finn who choose to dance, while dealing with the social stigma around dancing for young boys, says Erin. “Despite sometimes being the only boy in [a dance] class... [the] possible peer pressure from kids at school... at the risk of being teased... [Finn] keeps pushing.”
Finn agrees. “Sometimes I do get teased for dancing. But it’s never enough to like discourage me. It’s mostly just, ‘Oh my gosh, you dance’,” he says, explaining that it has never been a huge problem for him.
For Finn, being part of a dancing community and performing with productions like the annual Nutcracker production in St. Paul, as well as seeing and dancing with professional dancers on stage, gives him the desire to keep going.
This is a trait that makes his mother proud. “I’m super proud of him that he’s stuck with it and that he’s been successful.”
Shumka’s Nutcracker production will be performing in Camrose at the Jeanne & Peter Lougheed Performing Arts Centre, on Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m., and Dec. 9 at 2 p.m.
Then, the group will be at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton on Dec. 15 at 7 p.m., and Dec. 16 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Finn also played a main and a secondary role in the local Nutcracker production in St. Paul.
