In postwar Canada between 1945 and 1947, Avramenko offered Ukrainian folk dancing courses. One of his students in Winnipeg at this time was William Kurelek, nineteen at the time. By the mid-1960s folk dance ensembles were reinventing themselves: Rusalka in Winnipeg, Yevshan in Saskatoon, Shumka in Edmonton, as well as the touring ensembles from the Soviet Union, the State Folk Dance Ensemble of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic under Pavlo Virsky. They were interested in preserving the spirit of the folk dance rather than preserving traditional dance steps. Avramenko's concerts juxtaposed against these dances were simply a bit of nostalgia.