In memory of Pavlo Romanovich Yavorsky, Saskatchewan-born Ukrainian ballet master, CYMK founder and lifelong champion of Ukrainian heritage and culture, ‘Show Them What You Can Do’ ~ Building the Ukrainian Spirit Across Canada: An Illustrated Biography of Pavlo Romanovich Yavorsky was launched in 2007 at the 75th anniversary national convention of the Ukrainian Youth Association of Canada (CYMK).
Since its release, orders for the book have been received from every province between B.C. and the Maritimes; it is on file at Library and Archives Canada and Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec as well as the Ukrainian Embassy in Ottawa, Alberta’s Vegreville Centennial Library, Saskatoon Public Library and the Ukrainian Museum of Canada, and has been used as a course book by the Alberta Ukrainian Dance Association.
Described as “a unique and exquisite publication, a hybrid with potentially wide appeal among scholars, students and enthusiasts of varied interests,” the 112-page full-colour large-format (8.5”x11”) book contains his writings and more than 275 images of artifacts, photographs and documents compiled from a rare private collection as well as the ‘Paul Yavorsky fonds’ at Library and Archives Canada. Text includes translated excerpts from ‘Starymy Stezhkamy/Bygone Pathways’ — Pavlo’s published memoirs — as well as journal entries from 1932-1937 when he organized CYMK branches in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Eastern Canada and from 1938-1939, when he travelled with Vasile Avramenko as dance instructor, performer, publicist and fund-raiser for the Avramenko/Edgar G. Ulmer feature film, ‘Cossacks in Exile’. In later years, over several decades, Pavlo was a columnist for The Ukrainian Voice and other publications, writing on varied topics of significance to a Ukrainian-Canadian readership: multiculturalism, arts and literature, history, politics and current events.
A review published in Material Culture Review/Revue de la culture matérielle, Cape Breton University Press summarizes this work as “a fine example of how a research endeavour that incorporates scholarly rigour can have wide appeal. For all its depth and detail as a compilation of documents and artifacts, this is ultimately a high-quality publication of wonderful colour and artistry that will also be appreciated by any Ukrainian, Canadian, community arts or history enthusiast.”
Generous funding assistance toward printing of this book was provided by the SUS Foundation of Canada and is gratefully acknowledged here.
‘Show Them What You Can Do’ is available by mail order in hardcover (gold-embossed limited edition of 100 numbered copies; $55 includes HST+shipping) and softcover ($35 includes HST+shipping), with proceeds from book sales going toward The Pavlo Romanovich Yavorsky Youth Award in Ukrainian Dance (presented annually at the Tavria Ukrainian Dance Festival in his home province of Saskatchewan). For more information or to order by e-mail: wordandimage@brucetelecom.com
Hardcover: gold-embossed limited edition, $55, includes HST + shipping.
Order by e-mail: wordandimage@brucetelecom.com
Softcover: $35, includes HST + shipping.
Order by e-mail: wordandimage@brucetelecom.com
