Kateryna Shapiro has taught ballroom dance for twenty-six years and holds an international judging category. Together with her husband Oleh she runs a studio in Bucha and organises tournaments — among them the Bucha Mayor's Cup and the open competition The Open.

Her work with veterans was described by journalist Olha Prysiazhna in an interview for The Bucha City.

"One of the top five methods of healthy sublimation"

"Dance is powerful therapy, one of the top five methods of healthy sublimation of negative energy," Kateryna Shapiro says. She means the ability to channel tension, anger or anxiety into movement without harming yourself or those around you.

For veterans this works differently from talking therapy. In a psychologist's office the experience has to be put into words; on the dance floor it can be lived through the body — wordlessly, in rhythm, in partnership with another person. For many it is easier to start with the second option.

A couple performing a Latin dance on the floor
Ballroom dance works in pairs: partnership here is part of the method, not decoration. Illustrative photo: Pexels

Prosthetics, wheelchairs and the myth of "it won't work"

"Not once has a person with a disability failed at something," the coach stresses. Her experience covers work with people on prosthetics and in wheelchairs: the choreography is adapted to the abilities of the particular dancer, not the other way round.

The main barrier, Shapiro says, is not physical condition but the person's own expectations. The hardest part is crossing the threshold of the studio for the first time, because it seems impossible to dance "in this state". After that a simple mechanism kicks in: the body remembers it can do more than anyone assumed.

"My main dream is for the war to end"

The tournaments the couple hold in Bucha draw dancers from various cities. For a community that lived through occupation, this is also a way of returning ordinary peacetime events to the town — with music, a judges' table and an audience in the hall.

"My main dream as a person is for the war to end," Kateryna Shapiro says. Working with veterans, she adds, is the part of her own craft that makes sense right now, regardless of when that dream comes true.