This dance is an excellent example of a Ukrainian dance that is not “folk dance” according to the proposed definition (not inspired by any dance performed by peasants in Ukraine, nor by peasant culture in general), but it is clearly an “ethnic dance” (representing “Ukrainian-ness” explicitly to potentially non-Ukrainian audiences, and thus engaging cross-cultural borders).

Soccer is a very popular sport around Eastern Europe, and Ukraine has many excellent players and passionate fans. Doug Rachinski was inspired by Igor Moiseyev’s famous choreography of the same name from around the 1960s, one of many Moiseyev dances depicting contemporary Soviet life. Both these choreographies include a referee and a real soccer ball, two teams in contrasting uniforms, a photographer, a penalty, a winning goal, athletic unison and individual character movements representing action on the field.  Rachinski has Ukrainianized the choreography clearly, using blue and yellow uniforms (the colours of the Ukrainian national flag), a musical score which includes familiar Ukrainian folk melodies, steps recognizeable from other Ukrainian dances, etc. In this version, it’s boys against girls.