Yalenka Dance Troupe

 

about 40 yards of warp faced sashes for the male dancers

woven on my floor loom, instead of an inkle loom - I could do longer warps and had treadle controls but had to remove the reed and use a stick shuttle to beat the weft in

on the loom, weaving up nicely once I got the process figured out

in progress, building up nicely on the cloth beam

under tension on the loom, the cloth filled in nicely after wet finishing - see first picture above

starting to work on the head dress fabric for the female dancers

this fabric was woven on the AVL - multiple wefts including gold mylar - dancers added beads if they wanted but the mylar added sparkle under the stage lights, and little pom-poms to dangle off the edge

colour is not correct - the skirt fabric was VERY orange, not this washed out colour

skirt fabric for the female dancers - for this dance the 'skirt' was simple a front and back panel worn over a linen 'shift'

I did other fabrics for the dance troupe over the years.  For this particular dance I also did the wool fabric for the male dancer's vests which where then heavily embroidered by the dance troupe members (and their parents).

Another dance I did the fabric for had up to 7 different weft colours in a fancy twill block pattern.

The research I did (I'm not Ukrainian so I had to look up the history and find out more about the kinds of clothing that were typically worn) was enlightening.  

I had grown up in a small town which had a large number of Ukrainian immigrants, some of whom did not speak English, or did so with a heavy accent.  These people were friends, neighbours, and kind hearted.  Sophie (next door) tended a vegetable garden that took up nearly all of their back yard.  She preserved food, baked, took care of her family while her husband worked.  She was very kind to me and my family.  I didn't know the other Ukrainian family across the alley in large part because neither of the parents spoke English very well and their kids were enough years older than me we didn't play together.  

But I played with Sophie's kids, plus there were many others of Ukrainian heritage in my school.  We went to the bake sales, the perogi sales, the cabbage roll sales, the pysanky sales.  They were strong and stoic.  And they have a very rich textile tradition that we should probably know more about.

I was honoured to be contacted about weaving the textiles for their dance troupe, even though I'm not Ukrainian heritage.

Ukraine on my mind today, remembering the development and weaving of these special textiles.