Svitanok Ukrainian Dance Ensemble

Svitanok is the performing ensemble of the Svitanok Ukrainian Dance Society, which its own site calls the centre of Ottawa's Ukrainian dance community. The Society was established in 1991 by Kateryna Shepertycka, Maria Shepertycki and Yurij Ostapyk, and it works towards professionalism in the training, performance, instruction, renewal and promotion of Ukrainian character dance as a developing art form on the Canadian dance scene.

The Ensemble is proud of what it calls its innovative and unique style of Ukrainian dance. Its dances carry meaning behind the choreography and are built to move audiences beyond the colour, athleticism and beauty of a performance.

Petro Neborskij, an honoured artist of Ukraine who spent 22 years on the professional stage with the Veryovka Song and Dance Ensemble, was the Ensemble's artistic director and choreographer for over 25 years and still choreographs for it. Kateryna Shepertycka was named artistic director in 2019, bringing over 40 years as a Ukrainian dance performer, educator and choreographer. Around them works a training team of ensemble dancers, teachers and choreographers.

The Ensemble shares the Society with the Ottawa School of Ukrainian Dance, founded in 1979 by Kateryna Shepertycka. The School teaches children from the age of three, adults in the Podorozh! programme and seniors at the Ukrainian-Canadian Kitchen Parties, under the motto "Ukrainian dance for all!". Ensemble rehearsals and the School’s children/youth and Podorozh! classes both happen in the studios of The School of Dance on Crichton Street in Ottawa.

Svitanok dances around the Ottawa region: the European Union in Canada Cultural Fair at Lansdowne Park in July 2024 with the Latvian group Otavas Rotaļa, the School's Winter Celebration at Ottawa City Hall, and the year-end concerts at Meridian Theatres @ Centrepointe, most recently "The Land" in May 2026. It danced at UAFest 2024 in Carleton Place. The Society is a federally-registered charity and a provincially-incorporated non-profit, and it takes new Ensemble dancers by audition — trained dancers aged 16 and over.