Richard Wacko's early studies began at the Ukrainian National Federal School of Dance and continued at the Alberta Ballet School. He received private instruction with Maria Bokor at the Dance Art Academy, and has studied in Kiev, USSR, at the Virsky State Academy and at Les Ballets Russes de Montreal. He has served as artistic director of the Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, and is co-founder of the Volya Ukrainian Dance Troupe and Edmonton School of Folk Dance. In addition to giving master classes in character and classical folk dance, Richard has also been a guest choreographer for dance companies in Canada and the United States. He serves as Artistic Director of the Character Dance Ensemble, and has toured Canada, England, Russia, Spain, China and Japan. He has an MFA from the University of Utah, a B.Admin from Athabasca University and a Diploma in Marketing Management from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. In addition to studio classes richard also instructs Ballet History, Technology-Multimedia and Portfolio Design.   He recently published a CD ROM on Character Dance and co-released audio CD's for Character Dance Class and for Ukrainian Dance Class