Murray Steele

      Murray began Ukrainian dancing over 28 years ago and received his early training from Doug Rachinski at Dance Unlimited in Edmonton. There he also began developing his ballet technique and completed his Intermediate Cecchetti exam. Murray then continued his training at Shumka School of Dance where he graduated from the Shumka Dance Syllabus program. He became a member of the Viter Ukrainian Dancers in 2004 before successfully auditioning with the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers in 2008. Murray currently performs for Shumka with a combined 12 years performing there, as well as 3 years performing for the Volya Ukrainian Dance Ensemble. He has performed across Canada and internationally to France, England, Ukraine. Murray has also had the pleasure of performing as a guest artist for the Goh Ballet in Vancouver, Citie Ballet in Edmonton, Alberta Ballet in Calgary, Aspen-Santa Fe Ballet in Coldorado and New Mexico, and as a backup dancer for Ruslana. 

      As a Ukrainian dance instructor Murray has over 17 years of experience and is currently instructing at the Ardrossan Yatran Ukrainian Dance School and the Ft. Saskatchewan Barvinok Ukrainian Dance School. Previously, Murray has received the Alberta Council For the Ukrainian Arts Top 30 under 30 award for his contribution to the Ukrainian Arts in Alberta.