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« 2026. # 1 (187)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2026. № 1 (187), 122—128

UDK 793.31.011.26.03.072.3(=161.2):050(477.83-25)”193″

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/

The date the article was first submitted to the publication 12.01.2026

The date the article was accepted for publication after review 16.01.2026

The date of publication (publication)

PROBLEMS OF RESEARCH INTO UKRAINIAN FOLK CHOREOGRAPHY IN THE PUBLICATIONS OF ROMAN HARASYMCHUK ON THE PAGES OF LVIV’S UKRAINIAN PERIODICALS OF THE LATE 1930-s

LIASHENKO Valentyn

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8647-8884
  • Postgraduate Student of the Department
  • of Directing and Choreography,
  • Ivan Franko National University of Lviv,
  • 18, Valova Str., 79008, Lviv, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: Valentyn.Liashenko@lnu.edu.ua

Abstract. The article presents the first attempt to comprehensively characterize the key problems in researching Ukrainian folk choreography as reflected in the publications of Roman Harasymchuk (1900—1976) in the Ukrainian periodicals of Lviv in the late 1930s. The relevance of the topic lies in the fact that this particular aspect of R. Harasymchuk’s scholarly legacy in the field of folk dance studies has not yet been the subject of dedicated academic investigation.

Harasymchuk’s scholarly and journalistic articles from the late 1930s, published in Lviv newspapers and magazines, served as a response of the young ethnologist to the contemporary developments in Ukrainian studies and the national life of Ukrainians in interwar Poland. At the same time, these publications functioned as an important tool for promoting and popularizing Ukrainian culture and for emphasizing the need for its systematic study and preservation.

As might be expected, among the topics and issues addressed in these works, folk dances occupy a significant place, particularly the pressing challenges and tasks associated with their comprehensive scholarly study — an area that was at the center of R. Harasymchuk’s academic interests at the time. He emphasized the considerable educational and formative potential of Ukrainian folk dances and their role in preserving the national identity of Ukrainians under conditions of hostile occupation.

Among the realities, narratives, and issues mentioned in these publications in connection with specific folk dances, traditional Hutsul dances clearly prevail. At that time, R. Harasymchuk had far more extensive materials on them, including both his own field research and analytical studies. In contrast, his knowledge of the dance traditions of other ethnographic regions — such as the neighboring Boiko and Lemko areas — was then limited to fragmentary literary references (originally used as comparative material for his Hutsul studies). His comprehensive field research in these regions began somewhat later: in the Boiko area from 1940, and in Lemko area, Western Podillia, the historical-ethnographic region of Volynia, and the central districts of Lviv region only in the 1950s.

Keywords: choreographic culture, Roman Harasymchuk, folk dances, dance movements, ethnology, art studies, methodology, mapping, field research.

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