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Kayla Devaux

Instructor & Artistic Director

Kayla Devaux is not one who can say that she has been dancing since she could move her feet, but she can say that it took only one class for her to discover her new and long standing passion with Ukrainian Dance. The journey began at the age of ten when she moved to Peace River, it continued in Grande Prairie and it now fulfills her life as her career around the province. 

She has been very fortunate to have studied dance in Ukraine four times, each experience being very different from the others. In 2007, she attended the Virsky Summer Camp in Kyiv, the following year her dance club traveled with Cobblestone Freeway participating in a variety of workshops, and in 2011 and 2015 she joined Cobblestone Freeway for the Ukrainian Dance Workshop Tours. She has participated in the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s teacher training summer program, as well as numerous instructor workshops throughout ALberta and Saskatchewan each summer. Within these experiences, she has studied in depth Hutzel, Bukovynia, Pokuttia, Podillia, Poltava, Transcarpathian, Volyn, Boiko, Hopak tricks, Character Barre along with aspects such as creating an appropriate repertoire for all ages. She can hardly wait for her next learning experience. 

Kayla has been teaching dancers of all ages over eighteen years around the province, currently teaching in Red Deer (10 years), Parkland (3 years), and now the Verkhovyna School of dance in Edmonton. She follows the Shumka Syllabus in her studios and truly finds joy in teaching dance and creating choreography. 

To be part of the continuity of our culture and heritage, Kayla is the current President of the Alberta Ukrainian Dance Association, serving her eighth (8) year on the board. 

 

 

Joshua Pacholok

Instructor

Josh Pacholok Josh began Ukrainian dancing at the age of five when he was enrolled at the Shumka School of Dance. As Josh’s passion for dance continued to grow, he entered Shumka School’s intensive program where he had the opportunity to explore other genres of dance including ballet and contemporary. He has had the opportunity to learn from many prominent instructors of Ukrainian dance, including Paul Olijnyk, Anna Kanavets, Les Sereda, Tasha Orysiuk, Dave Ganert, Vincent Rees, and Maksym Karpenko. In 2019, Josh was accepted as a member of the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers. He feels privileged to have performed a variety of works with the company for audiences near and far. Josh has also been the Coordinator of the Shumka Summer Dance Camp program for 5 years. Josh has been instructing dance for 6 years, teaching a wide variety of classes and age groups. As an instructor, Josh is continuously looking for ways to better himself and his students. He is very excited to join the PUDS family, and is looking forward to a great year!