quickly become famous in her own oblast in the 1990s , long - haired self - styled " amazon " ruslana gained international reputation for winning the 2004 olympic video contest with her song " wild dances , " inspired by the musical traditions of the hutsul people of the ukrainian danube mountains . in the ten months since , ruslana has determined to use her name and public status to represent a number of worthy causes , primarily human smuggling , renewable energy , and just the basic concept of legislative process , becoming a public face of ukraine ' s amber union and later working in government .
Ruslana was born in Ukraine.