Kozaks of Podillia academic song and dance ensemble

The ensemble’s history begins back in 1938 in the city of Kamyanets-Podilsky. The group started out as a choir cappella, which included the best amateur and professional artists. 

In 1945 the Symphony moves to a new regional center - Proskuriv. In 1954 Proskuriv is renamed into Khmelnytsky. The choir gets reformed into a song and dance ensemble called "Podolianka" and works under that name till 1989. In 1989, on the initiative of Mykola Balema, directing the ensemble from 1975, the ensemble is renamed into "Kozaks of Podillia". 

For three decades, the ensemble has remained in a constant state of creativity that contributed to the development of the ensemble’s signature artistic style. Thanks to a thorough study of Podillian Ukrainian folk songs and dances the ensemble was successful in forming a repertoire, where folklore was combined with contemporary music.  

The base for the ensemble’s repertoire is primarily local folklore. Every year the number of folk songs in the company's repertoire grows too, thanks to the works of folklorists, such as Nastya Prysiazhnyuk, Hnat Tantsyura, Rodion Skaletskyy Maria Rudenko, Zoia Chorna and others. Generally speaking, the folk material of Podillia region is quite ‘colorful’, varied and fun. To name an example there are the comic, playful songs people in Podillia call ‘chabarashky’ or ‘shumky’, which basically are the equivalent of ‘kolomyjky’ found in the Carpathians. 

Currently the company is directed by choreographer Olena Yefimchuk. Interesting productions are always performed on a high professional level. These include: "Podilski Vechornytsi" (‘Podillian Evenings’), "Hopak", "Provody Kozaka" (‘Seeing off a Kozak’), "Kozak Quadrillion", "Crooked Dance ", "Vasylechky", "Kozak Council" etc. Through the means of their productions the ensemble represents all the best from the inexhaustible folk art treasury from all the regions of Podillia. Heart-warming song creations, fun dances, virtuoso folk music, avant-garde and authenticity – it’s all that defines the "Kozaks of Podillia".

In 2015, Ukrainian Dance World, partnering with Cobblestone Freeway Tours, planned workshops with the “Kozaks of Podillia”, within the framework of the annual Ukrainian Dance Workshop Tour. On this tour participants get a unique chance to learn traditional dances from various regions directly from the sources, from local folk ensembles and only the best choreographers.