EPHRATA — Columbia Basin Allied Arts kicked off its annual school tour Monday, with a performance for Grant and Columbia Ridge students in Ephrata by Trio Barynya. 

The performance is part of CBAA’s school outreach, which has been going on for seven years, CBAA Executive Director Shawn Cardwell wrote in an email to the Columbia Basin Herald. The group will go on to perform at every school district in Grant, Adams and Lincoln counties. This is the first time all the school districts in the three counties have participated, Cardwell wrote, with Rearden-Edwall and Othello joining for the first time. Students from the Creston, Washtucna, Benge, Kahlotus, Soap Lake, Almira, Odessa and Moses Lake districts will also be treated to the show. 

“We shifted our children's programming about seven years ago when we realized the same families were coming to our in-theater performances geared for kids,” Cardwell wrote. “We took those funds and applied them to covering half the cost of the performances, travel and overnight stays for performances in schools and are now serving thousands and thousands more K-8 students than before.”  

In the past, the program has reached schools in all three counties with programs like the bilingual play “Bienvenidos: Tremendous Tales from the Spanish Speaking World” and the locally written and produced “The Hunt for Yarely,” about the water cycle of the Columbia Basin. The performances come with an activity sheet for the students to help them understand and relate to the show. 

Trio Barynya is part of the larger Barynya ensemble, which keeps alive traditional music and dance from a variety of eastern European cultures, including Russian, Ukrainian, Cossack, Jewish, Roma and Tatar traditions, according to its website. The name Barynya comes from a high-energy traditional Russian dance, the website said. 

The school programs are paid for through private donations and grants from foundations like the Paul Lauzier and Innovia foundations, Cardwell wrote.  

“Hopefully it doesn't take another seven years to reach every school district again,” Cardwell wrote. “Our next goal is to make sure every elementary and middle school are receive a performance sooner (rather) than later.” 

    Barynya dancer Vladimir Nikitin takes a leap in a traditional Ukrainian dance called Hopak at an international festival. Some of the troupe’s performers are on a tour of Basin schools sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts.