This article has been edited since it first appeared online.
Fred Astaire Dance Studio of Richmond's Facebook cover photo showing support for Ukraine (Photo illustration by Micah Byler)
Ukrainian native Oleksandr Kucheriavyi is far from the fighting in his native land, but the country and its people are close to his heart.
He’s in Richmond, one of five dance instructors from Ukraine at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in North Chesterfield.
Kucheriavyi, 32, is an expert in ballroom dancing. He grew up in Lutsk, a city in northwestern Ukraine on the Styr River. The Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in February has been distressing for Kucheriavyi because he has family who still live there. His relatives were living close to Kyiv, he says, when the invasion and bombings began.
“Just pray, just always be thankful for everything you have today. You can smile and be happy, and tomorrow you don’t know what you have,” he says.
His fellow dance instructors at Fred Astaire Dance Studio include Ukraine natives Alina Kupriianova, Alina Suvidova, Yehor Kupriianov and Vlad Sirotin, all of whom are also concerned about their families’ safety and well-being.
Those concerns led to a Ukrainian relief fundraiser held at the studio on March 11.
Renowned Richmond dancer Maggie Small, who retired in 2019 from the Richmond Ballet, operates the studio. She says that the team decided to hold a fundraiser to support the instructors. “It’s hard worrying about your family every day.” Small says a fundraiser for Ukraine made everyone, both the instructors and the dance students, “feel a lot less helpless about what’s going on by making some kind of positive impact."
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The fundraiser at the dance studio included a group class. (Photo by Oleksandr Kucheriavyi)
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The event also included a dance by the instructors to Ukrainian music. (Photo by Oleksandr Kucheriavyi)
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The event also included a dance by the instructors to Ukrainian music. (Photo by Oleksandr Kucheriavyi)
The event included a group dance class, a performance by the instructors to Ukrainian music, and door prizes from local shops and restaurants. Many people bought tickets to support the cause even if they could not be at the event.
“We raised over $32,000, which was really exciting,” Small says.
Half was donated to the nonprofit United Help Ukraine, which focuses on providing humanitarian aid and medical supplies; the remainder was sent by the studio’s dance instructors to their family members who are still in Ukraine, according to Small.
Kucheriavyi reports that thankfully his family has been able to relocate to Poland, but “it was hard to escape, everywhere bombs.”
Compounding his concerns, he and his wife, Alina, welcomed a baby into the world earlier in March.
Dancing helps in dealing with stress, Small says. “We want the studio to be a place of solace, not just for our students, but also for our instructors. It’s important that dance can be a place and an activity that brings you peace.”
Kucheriavyi says he was 4 when he learned to dance. “I think that dancing is a part of my life. I was a young boy, and I dreamed of the U.S.,” he says, after some friends who had been to the United States told him how wonderful it was here.
The dance studio opened in 2018 at Arboretum Place. The first instructor there was recruited from Ukraine, according to Small. The country is known for its exceptional dancers. “In Ukraine people train for ballroom dancing from a very, very young age, and some of them go on to become professional competitors, some compete professionally for a while and then want to become instructors,” Small says.
Recruiting that first instructor led to the current, all-Ukrainian lineup of instructors at the studio. “The best way to recruit is to ask your recruit if they know anybody,” she explains.
"It really created a really great culture of people who are very positive and hardworking and love imparting their love of dance to our students,” Small adds.
Kucheriavyi says he is thankful when he sees Richmonders with signs in their yards or stickers on their cars with the Ukrainian flag and words of support for Ukraine. People here are kind, he says.
“For me, I feel proud of Ukraine. I’m proud of people of Ukraine, how strong we are.”
