With “Kolos” in the heart

“If all those hours of work spent in every danceevery song of the Kolos band, to put together, a new world could be created. 60 years of memories of hundreds of participants are unlikely to fit in the largest cloud. If you gather all the love with which they sing and dance, you could fill the ocean with it. If all the Kolos members of all generations hold their hands, it is possible to hug half of Ukraine.
(a graduate of the folk song and dance ensemble "Kolos"
Maria Brovinska)

This action was worth seeing and hearing. It has been going on at our university for almost 40 years - on the first Saturday of December the graduates of the choir and ballet group of the folk song and dance ensemble “Kolos” come together, fly to their alma-mater, to plunge again into the sweetest years of life – the years of being students, years, which gave them both the opportunity to become a highly qualified specialist, and the joy of creativity. And also - the constant feeling of the shoulders of trusted friends, support in a moment of fun, and in difficult moments of sadness. And also - a big friendly family. Actually, you won't call it a family either, because today in Kolos there are dozens of families who love and develop Ukrainian culture, support and multiply good traditions of Kolos, such as the Yukhymchuk family: together with the present head of the ballet group Natalka for a meeting came three more "Kolos" veterans - mother, father and older brother. With his eyes shining with youth, Ihor remembered how, after leaving the sports section, he noticed a beautiful girl, after which he hurried to the third building, where she practiced at Kolos, and after a few weeks he became a soloist of a ballet group.

And such stories in "Kolos" are many. Therefore, on this day dozens of times the film of time is scrolled through, hundreds - sincerity, happiness and warmth are poured, thousands - smiles and hugs are opened. And a few months before, the General (his graduates called him so) head of the ensemble Serhiy Hrechanyi (his wife, daughter and son - also "Kolos" members) reminds his friends: the first Saturday of December is not far off! And it is his hard work that makes the tradition to go on living, which this year has brought together over 300 friends in the assembly hall of the educational building No.3, among whom the oldest graduates of the ballet group were those of 1963!

The participants of the active composition of the folk ensemble of songs and dances "Kolos" were carefully prepared for the meeting, because, as they noted, the audience in the hall would be very demanding, because it knows every party and therefore will notice any sins. You may not believe it, but it is true: there was not a single piece of music performed by a choir that would not be picked up or supported by the choir, and some of the alumni would dare to go on stage and remember how (or was) the choir soloist. And the graduates of the ballet group themselves showed a master class, remembering how they danced "Hopak" or "Three of us we fell in love with a young lady."

Our youth did not give up the glory of the Kolos: from “Cossacks rode from the mountain and into the ravine” to the “nleash, guys, horses”, from “Polka-curly” to the “Gypsy”, boys and girls were taught full and especially tried those who were last active in Kolos were graduates of the ballet band Volodymyr Birchenko and Anastasia Mishchuk and alumni of the choral group Yaroslava Lemesh, Alla Myronyuk, Tetiana Yanchynetska, Alina Hlushchenko, Liana Kuznetsova, Oleksandr Pestov, Andriy Olifirenko, Oleksandr Sytnyk.

It is difficult to imagine a collective without these constant participants, and we hope that graduation from the university is not a reason not to come to your favorite team, not to help it with word and deed, as all the graduates do it constantly, for which they are greatly thanked," choir group Senior Lecturer in the Department of Cultural Studies Volodymyr Yakymchuk. "The team is always waiting for you because it loves and does not consider you strangers," added the head of the ballet group senior teacher of the Department of Cultural Studies Olha Saurina.
For all the joy of the event, the Kolos family has not forgotten about whom many consider their second father - Stanislav Semenovskyi, whose name Kolos is called after. For many, the meeting began not at the university, but at the grave of Stanislav Andriyovych, and at the meeting there was a touching poetry of Serhiy Hrechanyi, written in honor of his beloved leader after his death.
And the same Kolos family announced a charity action "Help Sofia beat cancer" - raising funds for the treatment of a member of Kolos Sofia Kovalets (Dudnyk). The girl is only 23, she has been battling a serious illness for more than a year, after several chemotherapies, the tumor stopped progressing, but Sophia's body failed, she couldn't move on her own, she needed neurosurgery…
Like every year, the loud “Roars and moans the Dnieper wide” concluded the meeting in the assembly hall. And at this time in one corner in the hall 4-5 years old kids gathered. The children listened to their parents sing, and I am convinced that ten years later, each of them will say the way the student of the faculty of information technology Vlad Kharchenko said today: “There was no other way than in Kolos. It is difficult to count how many years in a row with my parents I went to a meeting of graduates of "Kolos", so when I joined NULES, the whole repertoire was familiar to me. I'm here and proud of it! "

Iryna Maidanyuk,

Head of the Department of Cultural Studies