Montréal International Fireworks Competition Reports

I met with Dmytro Kuchugura, Tetiana Kuchuhura, Natalia Kuchugura and Nina Kravets – representing the Ukrainian company Dance of Fire, competing in Montreal for their first time.

In many ways, this was not a normal interview as this is the first time a team from a country that’s actively at war has been invited to participate. The war actually started in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea (which had been part of Ukraine since 1995) but really intensified with the invasion of Ukraine itself in 2022. As can be imagined, the logistics of a fireworks company completely changes in such circumstances, let alone the authorizations required to even attend. Flights from Ukraine to Canada are not available so the team had to drive to Poland and then get to Vienna where they took a flight to Montreal.

The company itself, Dance of Fire, was founded by the Matriarch of the Kuchugura family, Tetiana in 2001 after buying consumer fireworks for her 17 year old daughter’s birthday party. The company expanded to include professional fireworks and organizing both traditional and pyromusical displays. They attended the 10th International Symposium on Fireworks in 2007 which was held in Montreal and asked if they could compete, citing a competition they had participated in in Crimea. They were told their information had been recorded and they would be contacted.

In the mean time, Dance of Fire competed in many festivals and competitions in both the European Union as well as Ukraine and Crimea, though the latter stopped after the annexation. Prior to this, they were producing large stadium shows of up to an hour of fireworks at various locations in Ukraine with audiences up to 12,000. Dmytro told me they had come up with this concept and it was very popular, with such themes as “Around the world in 60 minutes” or various tributes to Eurovision (Ukraine won 3 times and came second 3 times as well – their most recent win was in 2022.

As for Canada, they participated in GlobalFest in Calgary in 2018 as well as in Timmins in 2017 where they took second prize. Several participations at the Malta International Fireworks festival together with festivals in France, Germany and finally in 2019, in the UK, they won 1st Prize at the Blackpool Pyromusical World Championship. With all these competitions under their belt, together with some prizes, they were set to compete in Montreal. Competing in Europe post 2017 had become more difficult, too, as all products had to be authorized with a CE sticker for use in the European Union. Dance of Fire were importing directly from China, but not products that had the right stickers, nor for any others from the non-EU Eastern European former soviet states. So this made things more complicated, but Dance of Fire had forged strong bonds with Macedos of Portugal (who produce a huge New Year’s Eve show in Madeira every year) and even participated in a festival in Funchal. This bond would prove useful for Montreal.

Then the pandemic hit, followed by the invasion of Ukraine. Complicated times, but the bonds Dance of Fire had made during their participation in European festivals and competitions meant that they had a means to import fireworks from Europe to Canada for their participation in Montreal. Indeed, Andre Macedo is part of their crew. Dance of Fire’s arsenal, therefore, includes products from China, Portugal, Spain and Italy with Macedos providing the largest non-Chinese content, together with Parente of Italy and various companies from Spain in smaller amounts.

The designer of the show, Tatjana Burdiak, unfortunately is not in Montreal, but she used Finale3D for the work and Dmytro told me they are firing with FireOne and using around 3700 cues with “14,000 effects”. They will be using all five ramps, with 9 floating positions on the pontoons of ramp 5, a small setup on ramp 4 (on top of the control building) as well as 9 main positions on ramp 3 with 5 supporting positions as well as five positions on ramp 2s and 1. This will be their biggest show outside of their special stadiu shows, but it is to my understanding that the logistical challenges of the ongoing war mean that it will probably be smaller than other competing shows, at least in terms of the amount of product. That said, Eric Tucker famously was able to use product judiciously so as to make a show look big and well-designed enough to win the Gold Jupiter four times in Montreal.

The soundtrack was designed and mixed by the company’s founder, Tetiana, and features a mix of popular Ukrainian and Canadian pieces. Indeed, one of the Ukrainian pieces is from the 2022 Eurovision win “Stefania” by the Kalush Orchestra.

Following the stresses of last week with a first-ever show cancellation due to smoke and smog from the ongoing forest fires, this week looks to be hot and humid, but with good air quality. A go/no-go decision is imminent but Dmytro is optimistic as he said he commanded todays heavy lunchtime rains to clear the air. When asked about what this show represents, he said the people of Ukraine want to sincerely thank the people of Canada for their support in the ongoing war and invite them to enjoy a spectacle of Ukrainian and Canadian music. He said he had met many Ukrainians on the streets of Montreal at the Jazz festival and they’re all extremely excited and proud that their compatriots are representing their beloved homeland.