Ukrainian Costuming
As we all know, costuming plays a tremendous role in the dance atmosphere. Authentic Ukrainian costumes are vibrant, regionally specific and have multiple different folklorique elements to them. It is also the authenticity of the costuming that heightens the overall experience of the dance to participants – whether they be dancers or audience members. Unfortunately, costuming is also the largest expense to our Ukrainian dance students; often creating a barrier for many students who wish to participate in the program.

To help alleviate this barrier, KaRAR has started to implement a Cultural Dance Accessibility Initiative to help offset the cost of costuming for our students. The purpose of this initiative is to develop, over time, a costuming closet that will be available for all students involved. Throughout the dance year, the Ukrainian program may ask its students to actively participate in fundraisers to raise money for costuming. It is our hope that with the financial burden of costuming lifted from many families, our Ukrainian dance program could very easily see the studio’s Ukrainian enrolment grow even more, thereby fostering accessibility to cultural dance (without financial burden) to as many children as possible. Once fully established, Ukrainian students will be able to rent costuming from the studio rather than outright paying for their own costuming. The rental fee will include costume usage for the year as well as cleaning services.