Russian song and dance ensemble Barynya visits Ligonier Valley Library

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Russian song and dance ensemble Barynya visits Ligonier Valley Library

Dan Speicher | Tuesday, July 30, 2019 3:43 p.m.

Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review

Elina Karokhina, left, and her husband Mikhail Smirnov dance and sing in traditional costumes while performing at the Ligonier Valley Library on Tuesday, July 30, 2019.

Mikhail Smirnov was playing music in a Russian restaurant in Long Island, N.Y., in 1991 when a dancer came in and asked for a job. The owner told Smirnov and the musicians to play dance music for her. The first dance they performed together was the folk dance Barynya.

Since that time, the group has performed on NBC’s Superstars of Dance, at Carnegie Hall in New York, and Tuesday at the Ligonier Valley Library and Caldwell Memorial Library in Derry. The Ligonier crowd laughed and clapped along as the group changed costumes and performed their songs on the garmoshka accordion and the three-stringed, guitar-like balalaika.

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