The School of Boyovyi Hopak in Chicago

What's Boyovyi Hopak

Initially the hopak was a martial art practiced by the Ukrainian Cossacks. In time, its true meaning was lost. It had to change into just a dance in order to survive. Why? The key to the answer lies in the Ukrainian history. The country as a whole had in fact never really been independent until 1991. All its powerful neighbors and especially the Russian Empire and later the Soviet authorities did everything to erase any Ukrainian spirit from the people's minds. It is because of this that the Hopak, first described in the 15th century as a Ukrainian martial art, had become just a traditional Ukrainian dance by the late 19th century. Now it seems that the Ukrainians are rediscovering this art for themselves.

In 1980 Volodymyr Pylat, a Ukrainian master in karate, was the first to rediscover the variety in these popular dance movements. He observed that many of them included fighting techniques. Jump kicking, ankle trips, punches and uppercuts were the most obvious. For Volodymyr Pylat, the revival of the "combat hopak" started in his native village in Western Ukraine. And, actually, from his childhood when masters who taught the kids fighting arts traditionally gained a respected position in the village. They couldn't do any work apart from training the young Ukrainians to defend their families and their land. More detailed research showed that this was a typical situation in all of Ukraine. From father to son, this confidential knowledge was passed on over a long time. But there was no system to this collection of skills. Therefore no one realized their true meaning. It is only thanks to Volodymyr Pylat's researches that the origins of the hopak became evident: undoubtedly it was a Cossack heritage.

Chungju World Martial Arts Festival 2001

Ukrainian kozaks lived in the military settlements of Zaporizhia and other parts of "loca deserta", and were the sovereign nation of the professional soldiers with a unique structure, spirit of freedom, and warrior culture. They were acting as a protecting barrier for the rest of Europe from the militant invaders from the east and south. Cossack settlements were the place where men who didn't like the idea of becoming somebody's slave could find refuge and freedom. From the 15th to the 18th century the Cossacks used to live almost surrounded by various enemies. Poland in the West, the Russian Empire in the North and the Tatars in the South - all of them considered the independent Ukrainian Cossack territory a part of their country. Permanent battle-readiness was the only possibility for the Cossacks to protect their beliefs and culture. The only way to bring up a real warrior was to train him from a young age. More and more Ukrainian historians agree with Volodymyr Pylat's idea that the combat hopak was the key element of this educational tradition. Its technical side is as rich as that of karate or judo. Still, continuous oppression didn't let it survive as a martial art. The destruction of the "Sich" (the main Cossack settlement) by Catherine the Great in 1775 marks the end of the Cossacks' glorious history in general and the end of their martial tradition in particular. Over the following century Ukrainians turned their knowledge into a new kind of art. The nation turned the combat hopak into a common dance. Text from www.openit.com.ua

In the March of 2008 the first school of Boyovyi Hopak in the United States was open. The martial art is taught as half and full contact combat, scimitar saber fencing, in addition to use of other ancient Ukrainian weapons - spys (spear), palycya (staff), tsip (threshing flail), kelep (warhammer), bardka (tomahawk), kosa (war scythe) and dovbnya (bludgeon). Boyovyi Hopak is a mixture of kicks and footwork from the hopak dance, the punches originate from Kyivan bare knuckle fighting; blocks and grappling stem from other ethnic Ukrainian sources. Despite the fact that Boyovyi Hopak originated centuries ago. it's fully proven to work in present day situations. Its is sometimes called called "Cossack self-defense"; this is where I must object. Boyovyi Hopak is rather an offensive technique; let me just remind you that it was developed in times when you did not leave the enemy alive.

Starting in 2009 our school has performed for many audiences in the Chicagoland area with several presentations aimed specifically at an audience which had no previous knowledge of this martial art. These audiences were seeing something like this for the first time. Venues include places such as the Ed Rudolph Velodrome and the Chicago Field Museum.

Our School is located at 5000 N Cumberland Ave, Chicago, IL 60656. For information about time of practice please e-mail us to hopakchicago at gmail.com

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------