March 29, 2026

Vesnianky (Ukrainian Spring Songs)

This Ukrainian singing workshop is focused on ritual spring songs to call and welcome spring. These songs are ancestral practices that honoured the relationship and reciprocity between the land and humans. 

No experience required, you do not need to be Ukrainian to participate and all genders welcome. Song will be accompanied with movement/dance (moving feet in rhythm holding hands in a line), but accommodations can be made for accessibility purposes if needed (not everyone needs to participate in the dance, they can just sing alongside those who are moving).

Sasha Theodora is a diasporan Ukrainian modern folk crafts person, singer, and filmmaker exploring Ukrainian ritual, identity, and memory through contemporary art forms. Her short film Bohyni / Бочині / Goddesses (2022), inspired by Ukrainian death rituals honoring those killed in the war, received awards in Brazil and Slovakia and earned a Special Mention at the Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival. She recently completed her MFA at Toronto Metropolitan University (2025), which examines Ukrainian identity during wartime through the lens of seasonal rituals and the cosmic origins of the sacred plant kalyna in an experimental folk documentary film. She was the co-founder of Kosa Folk Arts and has been researching Ukrainian folkloric practices, in craft and singing, for 15 years. 

I am excited to facilitate the learning of beautiful music, expressing the ritual traditions of Ukraine (both as a protest against colonial oppression and as a testament to a true relationship with the earth and ancestral traditions), and singing as an act of joy and healing. Let's get this spring party started through singing and being in ritual with the ancestors, the earth and one another. 

For children under 13,  parent participation required. 

Beginners welcome.