Vasyl' Mykolayovych Verkhovynets' (1880 - 1938) was an actor, conductor, composer, voice teacher, amateur musicologist, balletmaster, choreographer and dance ethnographer He is credited for fundamentally altering the course of Ukrainian dance by devising a method of transcribing dance to paper, recording traditional dances and steps from numerous villages, setting dances on a stage, and fostering generations of Ukrainian dance researchers and practitioners. He was also the founder of the modern three-part hopak. Vasyl' Verkhovynets' was born "Vasyl' Kostiv" in Myzun, on January 5, 1880.