Valery Dance Academy

HIS dance career spanned 17 years as soloist of the Ukrainian National Ensemble under the direction of legendary dance master Paul Virsky. Since retiring as a soloist in 1982, he has spread his passion for artistic dance around the world.

Valery Debelyy has for the past three years, quietly — but very efficiently — brought the highest level of European dance instruction to Winnipeg via the Valery Dance Academy, an affiliate of the National Academy of Dance of Ukraine. How did Debelyy end up in Winnipeg?

"I was in Winnipeg in 2000 as ballet master for a tour that went through Canada and the United States," he recalls. "At that time, I discovered Winnipeg. When 1 saw that every third child was in dance, I knew I had come to a special place. I think due to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, everyone here dances. That passion drew me."

During that same tour, local dance ensemble Rusalka couldn't help but notice the flair and attention to detail Debelyy lent to his choreography. He was quickly invited to be the guest artistic director with the ensemble for 2001. Intrigued, he accepted and came to Winnipeg to fill the role. As time went on, he became increasingly convinced that Winnipeg had more than just a passing interest in dance.

"I decided to check out that theory in 2002. It was then that I put together a dance ensemble that included dancers from Winnipeg and soloists from the National Ballet of Kiev. We performed the "Nutcracker" with over 200 young people on stage, from all different cultures and communities. The response was overwhelming. My theory that Winnipeg was a dance city proved to be more than correct."

Consequently, Debelyy opened the Ukrainian Academy of Dance in 2004 to take on youngsters and train them to European standards based on the Kiev, Moscow and St. Petersburg schools of ballet. A short time later, the academy was named after him to better reflect his international dance roots.

"We eventually decided to call it the Valery Academy because we wanted to work with a distinct international component," he says. "The name change seemed to work. Since making the recent change, kids from many different cultures have come to the Academy — it was important to us to continue the Canadian tradition of multiculturalism. We even have two students from Israel enrolled now."

The school, which is run out of Sts. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral Parish Hall at 115 McGregor St. in the north end, currently lists no fewer than 70 students on its roster. Debelyy's goal is to have 100 students within the next year or so. Once that happens, he will cap the roster to ensure that each student receives sufficient one-on-one instruction.

"Having 100 students is enough to do some exciting things like work on projects like another version of the Nutcracker. At the same time, that number is small enough that we can give students more individual attention. Any more than that, and you lose quality and attention to detail. That, and we would need a larger building and more teachers," he laughs.

Make no mistake, Debelyy is a tough taskmaster. A product of the Kiev School of Dance, he honed his skills under the legendary Paul Virsky. Debelyy's dance knowledge is deep, as Virsky was a student of respected classical dance instructor Shyraev, who learned his trade from French legend Mario Petipas. Suffice it to say, Debelyy has an eye for talent.

He believes that great dancers are endowed with an ideal mixture of desire and in-born technical proficiency. However, while athletic ability is an invaluable asset, he says that innate desire to excel may be more important than natural ability.

"I can provide them with the emotional and technical input, but not every child will want to be a professional dancer — it's a demanding career. My job is to give them the chance to become one, should they have the desire. It's important that they have the will. If the talent isn't totally there, I can work with them as long as they have the desire to put in the work required."

    Winnipeg Free Press (Aug. 24, 2006), By Todd Lewys, Picture: by Linda Wensel

Copyright © 2004 Valery Dance Academy
All rights reserved.