ONE WORK | Ayla Dmyterko, ‘Dance of the Fated Furies’ (2025)

In ​‘Dance of the Fated Furies’ the viewer finds themselves enfolded in the centre of a balletic, folkloric dance performed by Ukrainian-Canadian dancers that Dmyterko grew up dancing alongside. The dances’ dizzying circles echo the spiraling tornados native to Saskatchewan, Canada, where the piece was shot, meditating on the histories of people and culture uprooted by conflict, and of those forced to immigrate today due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The score, played on a theremin, was composed collaboratively by prairie-based musician Christina Masha Milinusicvia and Dmyterko. Invented in 1920s the theremin, an electronic musical instrument played without physical contact by the musician, gained prominence in 1950s sci-fi movies often to denote the arrival of the other-worldly.

The work’s title is an alteration to the title of a book of short stories, ​‘Dance of the Happy Shades’, by Alice Munro which narrates the hardships of early immigration to Canada. In pointing to this history, Dmyterko highlights the absence of stories from an agrarian perspective and acknowledges the cyclical histories of displacement and the role of migrant settlers from Eastern Europe who were then instrumentalised as labour as part of an expansionist, colonial project to break the land.

‘Dance of the Fated Furies’ was originally conceived as part of the exhibition and total installation ​‘Ring Around the Sun & We Rage On’ at Alma Pearl Gallery, London.

Ayla Dmyterko is a Ukrainian-Canadian artist based in Glasgow, Scotland. She was born in Saskatchewan, Canada, Treaty 4 territory, the traditional lands of the nêhiyawak, Anihšināpēk, Dakota, Nakoda, Lakota, and the homeland of the Métis/​Michif Nation. She received her MFA from the Glasgow School of Art, UK; BFA (Painting) from Concordia University, Montréal, CA; BEd (Visual Arts & Dance), University of Regina, CA; has been a resident at the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, US; the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, CA and forthcoming at IATRUS, Veliko Tarnovo, BG.

Recent solo exhibitions include ​‘Ring Around the Sun & We Rage On’, Alma Pearl, London, UK (2025); ​‘Liberate Thee, Angel of History’, Pangée, Montréal, CA (2023); ​‘Vyshyvani Kazky, Embroidered Stories’, Zalucky Contemporary, Toronto, CA (2022); and ​‘The Story Began With a Beet (It Must End With The Devil)’, Pangée, Montréal, CA (2015). Selected group exhibitions include ​‘Fools for Truth’, Pangée, Montréal, Canada (2025); ​‘Viaggi /​Journeys’, Alma Pearl, London (2025); ​‘Antigone Revisited’, curated by Marcelle Joseph, Hypha Studios, London (2024); ​‘Soil Horizon’, KIRKI Projects, Sifnos Island, Greece (2024); ​‘Bitch Magic’, Alma Pearl, London (2024); and ​‘The Grass at Our Feet’, VITRINE, Basel, Switzerland. Her film ​‘On Volya: Filling in The Frescoes’ (2023) was screened at David Dale Gallery, Glasgow, UK and at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, UK as part of the London Short Film Festival.

‘Dance of the Fated Furies’

Dancers: Kayla Dmyterko, Julia Kratz, Emery Millette, Bailey Swichenuik, Jassia Wedewer

Theremin Score: Christina Masha Milinusic

Supported By: Canada Council for the Arts & the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity

Captions are available to toggle on and off using the​‘CC’ button in the video window.

Captions created by Valery Tough.

Image description: A dancer is blurred in motion as they circle the camera. Red, yellow and green ribbons stream down from their head piece as the circle of dancers they hold hands with is reflected in the dance studio mirror behind them. A pink logo reading “(ONE WORK)” in stamp-like lettering is overlaid on the centre of the image.