Hopak

COMBAT HOPAK

Combat Hopak is a comprehensive system for the harmonious development of a person, created based on elements of the knightly culture of the Ukrainian people preserved in songs and dances, as well as the personal combat experience of artist and martial arts researcher Volodymyr Pylat.

The revival of the Ukrainian knightly art, known as Hopak, which embodies an inexhaustible source of Wisdom, began in Lviv. In 1985, Volodymyr Pylat founded the Experimental Hopak School of Will and Glory. For generations, our ancestors gathered on the cliffs of Khortytsia to preserve this martial tradition. The year 1987 is considered the official beginning of Combat Hopak’s development. The accumulated material was systematized and published as a book in 1991 (“Traditions of Ukrainian National Physical Culture,” authors Ye. Prystupa and V. Pylat, Lviv, Troian Publishing). With a circulation of 200,000 copies, this book triggered a robust revival process within the Ukrainian knightly circles. In 1994, Volodymyr Pylat published the book “Combat Hopak,” which became the foundation of this new martial art.