Author: Michael Witthaus

Ukrainian ballet tour comes to New Hampshire

By Michael Witthaus
mwitthaus@hippopress.com

The Grand Kyiv Ballet Company was forged through the crucible of two crises. In 2014, Russia occupied Eastern Ukraine, forcing dancer Oleksandr Stoianov and his ballerina wife Kareryna Kuhkar to move to Kyiv. Once there, Stoianov formed a ballet company consisting solely of his fellow countrymen and women.

“Before this we worked with the Russian companies, promoting the Moscow Ballet or the Russian Ballet,” Stoianov said in a recent phone interview. “Many people didn’t know that they were about 50 percent Ukrainian. It was my main idea to create the Grand Kyiv Ballet with a Ukrainian name, and with Ukrainian dancers.”

In 2022, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine forced another turning point. When the war began, Stoianov and Kuhkar were performing across Europe. They quickly put together a solidarity tour in France and Scandinavian countries, along with working to get dancers and students to safe places.

Government officials, including Scandinavian royalty, attended performances. Ballet became a voice for grief, resistance and national identity.

“We did speeches from the stage about weeping for our country,” Stoianov recalled. “It was a most difficult and terrible time.”

Theaters in Ukraine were closed. Jobs disappeared overnight, and for dancers, life without rehearsal and performance is unimaginable. Many were young, only in their teens, and forced to start from zero in foreign countries. Others were caring for children or elderly parents. Homes were destroyed, and stability vanished.

Some paid a much higher price. Oleksandr Shapoval, who’d danced with Stoianov and Kuhkar, volunteered for service and died in September 2022. Artem Datsishin, another principal dancer from Ukraine’s National Opera, died from injuries sustained from Russian shelling.

In response, larger and more frequent tours were created to provide work, income and purpose for displaced performers. Its scale has grown steadily and adapted to shifting challenges. The company is now a global presence, appearing across Europe, Scandinavia, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and more recently China.

Each tour and performance reinforces the visibility of Ukrainian culture on the world stage.

Stoianov, Kuhkar and their two daughters now live in Seattle. Stoianov oversees Grand Kyiv Ballet’s many projects, like two upcoming New Hampshire stops. Giselle, with principal dancers Victor Tomashek and Ekaterina Malkovich, will be performed in Nashua on Jan. 22, and Swan Lake is at Portsmouth’s Music Hall Jan. 25.

These days, the two dance infrequently. An injury stopped Stoianov in 2024, but he hinted, “perhaps a grand return is still ahead” on the company’s website. In the interview, he shared that a world tour of the ballet Carmen will happen next year. “We’ll start class and rehearsals this summer, and then in 2027, we’ll say goodbye to everybody from the stage.”

Giselle is a tale of love, deception and betrayal. Malkovich said in a late December Instagram post that it’s among her favorites to perform.

“When the curtain falls, you leave the stage not tired, but drained,” she wrote. “It’s a ballet after which you don’t want to say anything because there’s nothing left to say.”

Stoianov agrees, adding that its themes resonate with audiences. “All people feel sometimes in their lives in a situation like Giselle, a young girl who was in love, was betrayed and became crazy,” he said. “I’ve seen this ballet a thousand times and my eyes still become wet — but they are happy tears.”

Grand Kyiv Ballet presents Giselle
When: Thursday, Jan. 22, 7 p.m.
Where: Nashua Center for the Arts, 201 Main St., Nashua
Tickets: $46.75 and up at etix.com
Sunday, Jan. 25, 4 p.m. Grand Kyiv Ballet presents Swan Lake at The Music Hall, Portsmouth, themusichall.org.

Featured photo: Giselle. performed by The Grand Kyiv Ballet. Courtesy photo.

Moth & Wren Handwork Studio now open in Manchester

A few months ago, a new yarn shop opened on Bridge Street in Manchester. But owner Shannon Welsh envisions Moth & Wren Handwork Studio as more than a store.To begin 2026, for example, she launched Dry January: Knitters Edition to encourage makers to pick up and finish their existing works-in-progress.

While it may cause less yarn-buying in the short term, Welsh believes it reflects the shop’s deeper mission, of community. Most crafters can empathize with a pile of half-finished projects, each carrying both potential and guilt. She aims to create a welcoming space for people to meet, stitch together, and complete them, among other things.

“What we’re trying to promote is not just selling stuff retail,” she said by phone recently. “That’s less than half of it.”

Science supports the idea that when people become immersed in a hobby they often find an escape from daily pressures, Florida psychologist Patricia Dixon told Good Housekeeping magazine last March. “Participating in a shared interest can lead to meaningful social interactions, enhancing feelings of belonging and connection,” she said.

The story cited a resurgence of “cozy pursuits” like knitting, bird-watching and gardening, with a shared name that Welsh heartily agrees with. “Grandma hobbies are in,” she said. “When we are having mental health issues, if we’re anxious or depressed, or feeling stuck, the worst thing to do is be alone with that.”

Moth & Wren’s soft opening last November was shaped by practical realities — permits, renovations, even waiting for the heat to be turned on. During this period the shop opened its doors mainly to friends and local stitching groups, creating an opportunity to listen and learn.

Key to this phase was understanding the kind of projects people were interested in doing.

“Are they knitters or crocheters, do they do embroidery or mending? That’s a big part of it when you’re making a space for a community,” she said. “It’s not just stocking it up, it’s stocking it up with things that people want.”

The shop plans to offer a range of classes focused on foundational skills and specific techniques, like how to knit, how to master certain stitches, and project-based workshops, with participants working on the same item over multiple sessions. A workshop to make Sailor Slippers happens Jan. 23. “People can buy kits at the shop,” Welsh said.

For now Moth & Wren is only open on weekends, but by the end of January the goal is to expand hours to include two evenings per week: one for a free stitch-along and another dedicated to a class or workshop. Welsh plans for the schedule to rotate depending on interest and demand.

Outreach is also important. Monthly Sip and Stitch events are held on the fourth Wednesday of each month at To Share Brewing, creating a relaxed, social setting for makers. Every Saturday morning, a stitching group meets at Honey Cup Café and Tea Room next door — a natural partnership that blends tea, conversation and crafting.

Aware that fiber arts are expensive, Welsh also aims to be economically inclusive. She’s working on a “D-stash wall,” for makers to bring in yarn from skeins they no longer plan to use, and sell them on consignment. This allows other makers to purchase quality yarn at a lower price, while the original owner recoups some of their investment.

Another effort, inspired by traditional little free libraries, is The Fibrary. At it, people can swap drop off unwanted supplies and take others at no charge; Welsh developed it with her daughter. There are also plans to use it for charity knitters, “so if people have blankets or hats or something they want to distribute to the community they could drop that off.”

Of course, there’s plenty of yarn for sale, along with knitting needles, crochet hooks, books and gifts for makers.

The store’s name comes from Mary Oliver’s poem “Messenger,” a favorite of Welsh’s. “The last line [asks], ‘How do we live forever; how do we tell the world?’ The line about the moth and the wren is about being grateful — for having a body, being in this life, and giving gratitude for living.”

For her, it ties to the idea of people crafting for hundreds of generations.

“When we make something with our hands, we’re connected to them as well,” Welsh said. “We’re connected to our ancestors … that’s how they’ve lived forever through us, through teaching us their skills and passing those on to our children.”

Moth & Wren
When: Open Saturdays & Sundays, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Where: 154 Bridge St., Manchester
More: mothandwren.com

Featured photo: Shannon Welsh at Moth & Wren. Courtesy photo.