The Russian “Trepak” vs. The Ukrainian “Hopak”
The popular FOX TV show “So You Think You Can Dance” began introducing various styles of dance to bring awareness of traditions of other cultures into the mainstream television in the US. In last season’s finale, the two top male dancers, Joshua and Twitch, danced a ‘Russian “trepak”’ while wearing Ukrainian folk costumes and dancing traditional hopak moves. The hopak is the traditional dance of Ukraine. This caused some controversy, and offended those from Ukraine as well as Russia. The dance was choreographed to music from “The Nutcracker”, which raised questions as well. The fact that the composer, Tchaikovsky, who was of Ukrainian origin, used Ukrainian folk melodies in his works does not make them automatically Russian. Just to give a little history, trepak, or hopak was developed and then danced by the Ukrainian Cossacks even before Ukraine was taken over by Russia. The costumes, choreography and music had nothing to do with Russian culture, but instead were tied to Ukrainian traditions. Russians have never danced “trepak” as part of their traditional cultural dance. The fact that the dance was presented as a Russian number was not only an uncharacteristic sign of ignorance, but also insulted many Ukrainians watching everywhere! The “trepak” and hopak are distinct Ukrainian national dances that even the Soviet government never suggested were Russian in origin! Also, it was said that it was “Russian street dancing” which is far from the case. The “trepak” in Russia, was danced only by ballet dancers in the Russian ballet, “Nutcracker”. The dance on “So You Think You Can Dance” was not a Russian trepak, but more so a Ukrainian hopak, or Ukrainian “street dancing”. I thought that the piece on “So You Think You Can Dance” was highly entertaining and well performed, but I do think that the TV show’s attempts to globalize the show back fired. Instead, it showed our ignorance as an American society. I do not believe that their intent was to offend the Ukraine society, but goes to show our naivety when it comes to dances from other cultures. I look at this happening as an opportunity for us to research and expand our knowledge of dance around the world! Hopefully this will not happen again, and the show can learn from their mistakes. I believe that this small instance on “So You Think You Can Dance” can relate to our lack of awareness as an American whole. I believe that we must really begin to educate ourselves in other cultures around the world, and their dances! The entertainment is great, and if it is different than the original dance, we must say so, and not present it for what it is not!