There are more and more reasons to pay attention to the Stai Children's School of Arts and Traditional Culture every year. For example, this year – 2013 – the ensemble "Sunichki" became Honoured. It is the second ensemble in the republic to receive this title among rural children's ensembles. How was this achieved and what are "Sunichki" living for today, let's find out now…
Looking back
As soon as lessons end, Stai schoolchildren do not hurry home: they have another route – the school of arts and traditional culture. All pupils of the secondary school attend these classes, and even children from Pyshny come here. A school class usually corresponds to a group.
The first on the schedule is choreography. The head of the ensemble, Veronika Khomback, and the teacher, Alesya Kazhemskaya, teach classical, folk, and folklore dance. Pupils master everything from the basics of dance – hand and foot positions – to complex elements of Spanish and German dances. And if in distant 1996, when the ensemble was first established, its focus was exclusively on choreography, now there is a department of folk art with a vocal bias. Dulcimer, bayan, accordion, piano, domra, violin – at the music department, you can choose any instrument. Those who wish can also enroll in elective subjects – oral folk art, decorative and applied arts, and musical folklore instruments.
Belarusian traditions are taught in Stai from childhood: the youngest of the 117 pupils are three years old. They learn round dances, nursery rhymes, and ditties with interest, and at concerts, they dance in pairs with older pupils.
80 million [currency not specified] was recently spent on updating costumes: 12 were bought for the fifth grade and 24 for the youngest children. Each participant has their own Lepel costume, made by hand. Unlike, for example, pop singers, artists of the folk genre do not have to change their outfits for every number: only individual elements differ. The main requirement is that the costume must correspond to the region. By the way, this school does not limit itself to studying local folklore: teachers also introduce children to the peculiarities of folk traditions from other places.
Grandmothers' long-forgotten recipes are being collected by pupils who prepare dishes at the "Tasty Food" amateur club. At one of the recent sessions, they pickled cabbage. After a historical overview by teacher Yulia Zhaleyko, who spoke about the taste of the product depending on the phases of the moon, the children proceeded to the practical part, following the ancestors' rules.
About Modesty and the "Playback" Taboo
Mortars, sleeping bags, looms, embroidery, icons – "living past" is collected in the school museum. There is also a puppet theatre here. Adults and children have been playing in the accordion ensemble for two years. Seven years ago, the children's folk instrument ensemble was organised by Elena Borodeiko. The accompanying group of teachers is led by Natalia Babich, and Lyudmila Shipulya is responsible for vocal training. Graduates also return to their alma mater, but in a "new role". For example, Elena Pomoleyko, a violin teacher who has not yet worked a full year, has already become indispensable: her presence at a concert was so important that significant plans had to be rescheduled.
The artists from Stai always perform with live music, but there are no rules without exceptions. Veronika Alexandrovna recalls one instance when the pupils danced to a playback recording. Summer. Ulyanovsk city. None of the teachers could accompany their students, so a secondary school teacher accompanied the children on tour. The first sounds of the playback – and the young artists, without a single prompt, performed the programme rehearsed at school. Such a careful attitude towards their culture could not but surprise the head of the Russian region, who, having assessed the level of skill, asked the children to perform in other summer camps…
Straw weaving, paper cutting, embroidery, belt weaving – the school prioritises girls' areas of decorative and applied arts. In the future, it is planned to rectify this situation: for example, to teach boys willow weaving. And who knows, perhaps soon the boys will be selling their works at exhibitions. For now, "Sunichki" tell guests of the Lepel region about Belarusian folklore in their programmes, with the audience not being passive observers, but active participants in folk rituals and games. Wouldn't you agree, that's a contribution to tourism?
Over a hundred diplomas from republican and international competitions: "Sunichki" have managed to gain recognition not only in their homeland. Already in June, the ensemble will once again set off to conquer the hearts of lovers of traditional culture in another country. This time, the journey leads to Bulgaria, to the international children's festival "Sun, Joy, Beauty". It remains only a short while before Belarusian folklore with a Lepel flavour will once again come alive on a foreign stage, performed by our artists…
Ekaterina OSOVSKAYA