Billy Prusinowski Ukrainian Dancer California

Billy Prusinowski, a fourth generation Ukrainian residing in California's Bay Area, retains many aspects of his heritage through Ukrainian Dance. This form of dance represents traditional "Український тaнeць" derived centuries ago by the people of Ukraine and others in Eastern Europe.

Americans and Canadians celebrate their heritage through Ukrainian dance in cities across North America, such as New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Toronto, Alberta, and Edmonton. The continents of Australia and Latin America both also boast strong diasporas and celebrate Ukrainian dance, with some of their countrymen heading to the US and sharing the stage with Billy over the years.
Beginning with the Odesa Dance Ensemble in Syracuse, NY, he got his start under Pani Slawka Bobesky and then Mike and Tania Lewycky. His teachers recognized his charisma and encouraged his participation in the Roma Pryma Bohachevsky Ukrainian Dance Workshop at Soyuzivka Heritage Center in New York's Catskill Mountain Region in 2007. Along with doing two workshops, he helped co-instruct his original group, Odesa, until moving west in 2009.
Billy's predilection for movement, dance, and fitness took shape in the form of teaching fitness classes, primarily cardio kickboxing, starting in 2010. Focusing on that along with going to grad school, then becoming a teacher kept him away from dancing for almost 7 years.


It wasn't until 2016, when he and three dancers from Cleveland, Ohio and Melbourne, Australia came together to co-found Burevisnyky in the San Francisco Bay Area. One of only two groups in the entire state of California, Burevisnyky has had the opportunity perform at festivals from Santa Cruz to Sebastopol. Arete Dance School of Los Altos and the Tannery World Dance Center of Santa Cruz have hosted Billy as a guest instructor, offering opportunities to teach diverse populations from adult ballroom dancers to World Danz/Zumba enthusiasts. South Valley Dance Arts of Morgan Hill, CA has been Billy's focus in 2018-19, performing Liberte, Swan Lake, and Nutcracker, with designated Ukrainian Dance segments featuring Billy's choreography.

SVDA creates large-scale productions every season featuring ballerinas that have gone on to dance with companies including San Jose State, Brigham Young, and the World Academy of Dance. Their adaptation of The Nutcracker in 2018 included Billy's personalized choreography of Arkan and Vesely Chasy.

Burevisnyky is growing with a number of dancers from Syzokryli, Hromovitsya, and Kashtan. Inspiration from each of these groups' members helps shape the current choreography used in Burevisnyky's dances. Roma Pryma Bohachevsky's legacy of Ukrainian Dance influences much of Billy's choreography today.

 

To date, Billy continues to teach cardio kickboxing along with Ukrainian Dance throughout the Bay Area. Santa Cruz Power Fitness and University of California at Santa Cruz are two venues offering his brand, "Billy Bad Ass Cardio Kickboxing" which has elements of both dance and the martial arts he grew up with.

Performing the acrobatic and physically-challenging jumps and kicks in Ukrainian Dances like Hopak are what draw many to either become dancers themselves, or actively seek out opportunities to attend events like the annual Ukrainian Independence Day celebration or World Arts Festivals.

Staying in shape is merely one of the benefits of an active lifestyle including this style of dance and continuing with its physical demands. You can find many a dancer in the gym or even on a bodybuilding stage, showing off the physiques they've built up over years of dance.


Some of the bare-chested and more "macho" dances from Roma Pryma's Dance Workshops have hosted other Ukrainsky Tansuvaty including Nick Kobryn, Lew Iwashko, and Stefan Calka of the Sacramento Ballet.

Kozaks Billy Prusinowski, Nick Kobryn, and Lew Iwashko

Odesa of Syracuse, NY

......You can find Billy dancing with Burevisnyky, instructing South Valley Dance, or teaching cardio kickboxing across the Bay Area in 2019. All of these organizations are open to the public and value the diversity of their participants. Contact information for each are listed below.

Instagram: @billyprusinowski

Roma Pryma Workshoppers: Billy Prusinowski, Molly Gamble,
Andy Soluk, Deanna Rakowsky, Natalia Halatyn, Yustina Hryciw

Burevisnyky: www.facebook.com/burevisnykydanceensemble

South Valley Dance Arts: www.southvalleydance.com