This image is of one of the first Greek Canberra Hellenic Dance groups in Canberra. It was taken in the change rooms before they were about to perform. The male dancers are wearing the National Greek uniform, this uniform is only worn when dance groups are performing traditional dancers. Throughout my time at Greek school I learnt that these uniforms were mainly worn in the southern regions of Greece. The name of the uniform is "Tsolia". The Tsolia was worn by Greek fighters in the 1821 revolution, and today still worn by the Greece's Presidential Guards, who can be seen guarding the Tomb of the unknown soldiers in Athens. The skirt of the Tsolia consists of 400 pleats symbolising the years that Greece was under Ottoman rule. The remainder of the uniform is composed of a white shirt with wide flowing sleeves, a hat with a long tassel, an embroidered woolen vest, a sash worn around the waist and shoes with large pompons. The males in this photo are proud to be wearing such an important uniform as it holds a lot of history.
This image is of me on my 18th birthday party. I am dancing a 'Zembekiko' dance which is considered to be a traditional Greek improvisational dance from Greece with a rhythmic pattern. This type of dance is common in Greece and other regions around the world. Throughout history it has been known as an intensely personal dance. Overtime as I have become a Greek Dancing teacher I have learnt from different Greek workshops and other teachers that this type of dance is a man's dance. The reason for this is because the music has such a strong and heavy beat. If another man got up while the other man was still dancing it would cause conflict or possible violence, however today the dance etiquette has envolved. The main person dancing may pull another man up to dance with them. Men may also wait until the main dancing person stops and then begin to take over. Today women are allowed to dance this type of dance, but do not perform it as masculine, their moves are much softer and graceful. As the main person begins to dance the other people usually surrounded them in a circle kneeling either clapping or whistling as seen in the image. The surrounding people may also throw and break plates, tables and chairs or either place a glass of alcohol on the floor for the person to drink with out their hands. Usually this type of dancing is only danced on special occasions.
This video is of our Greek dancing group Atalandi performing a Cypriot dance. The dance we performed is a Cypriot Syrto. This dance originated from Cyprus, which is just off the coastline of Greece. This dance is very up beat as there are a lot of fast movements. Men and women perform this dance in couples while still staying in the circle. It’s a very popular dance in social gatherings, weddings and religious festivals. The dance teachers that taught me this dance mentioned to the group that this dance symbolizes the harmony between male and female roles in the Cypriot society.
This image shows the leader of a Greek dance. A leader is someone who is at the front of the circle and leads the group around the dance floor. In the image the leader is the girl Sofia. No one is allowed to take over the leader while they are dancing unless the leader had given them and invitation to move forward and take over. While the leader is at the front they are able to do turns, claps, clicks or even solos as long as they keep doing the basic step of the dance. In the image the leader Sofia has swapped hands with the second person and spun herself around. Then she has brought forward the second person and now they are dancing around the circle as a couple. While ebeing the leader of a dance you are meant to show off your skills as everyone's attention is on you. Beginners with less experience mainly focus their attention onto the leader because the leader is experienced in what they are dancing.
This image is of my dance partner Katarina and I. We have been through so much together throughout our dancing years. We are excellent dancing partners because we both take Greek dancing seriously. We are both full of energy which helps enhance our dancing skills. We are both not afraid to tell eachother what we need to improve on. This image was taken when we were performing in Sydney at the Greek Dancing festival. We were the leader of the dance so that meant we had to be perfect as most of the attention was focused on us. We both helped each other with the counts of the dance incase one of us forgot. We always strive to help each other to become better and stronger dancers, but most of all we both know how to have fun when we are performing and really work up the crowd.
This video shows our Greek dancing group Atalandi practising for one of the biggest performances we have had this year. Our dance group was given the opportunity to perform at the Sydney Greek Festival on the 24th of March 2008. The dance you see is a partner dance that is very fast and up beat. The song is called “Yia Sena Na Pethano”. It’s about a guy that will do anything to get the girl that he wants. We chose to open with this dance as it is lively and we thought would get the crowd cheering. Spiro, my sister Kayla, my brother Peter and I choreographed this dance. We filmed us practising to see what areas we needed to improve on. These areas of improvement were, reconnecting back into a circle at the same time, moving with our partners at the same time and making our moves stronger and more energetic. This dance is quick so we all had to be light and fast on our feet. Putting all these areas of improvement was hard, but paid off when we performed. The reason why we needed to be polished and perfect is because in Sydney there is a lot of Greek dancing groups and we wanted Canberra to be one of the better groups.
These videos are of us performing at the Sydney Greek Dancing Festival. We found out that weekend that we were opening up the festival meaning we were the first dance group to perform. We were all confident because we had rehearsed constantly for this performance. When we got onto the stage we all danced exceptionally well. All the practises and rehearsals we did paid off, as this was an experience that will last forever. We all danced tremendously well which is evident in the film clip. The feeling of happiness once we finished performing is never forgotten as everyone constantly reminds us how good and proud they were to be from Canberra that day.
This is of our Greek dancing group Atalantd. We are practising our second dance that we performed at the Sydney Greek Festival. I took the boys part of the dance out to show what a Zeibekiko dance looks like. Since this is was our practise, when we all viewed this video it enabled us all to pick out what we needed to improve on. The strength in everyone’s arms needed to be stronger, kicks needed to high and everyone needed to be in sink. This dance is another partner dance it’s called “Ten Exo Matia Yia Ali” which means “I don’t have eyes for anyone else but you”. This is why we have couples dancing with each other.
This film clip is when we performed our Zembekiko dance. All the areas of concern we had we fixed. All the male dancers in the film clip look strong and energetic. The kicks were high and in time. This would have to be one of our best performances with this dance.
This is a form of traditional Greek dancing. It was performed in Sydney at the Sydney Greek Festival in front of an enormous crowd as seen in the background. The dance is called 'Pentozali', it originated from Crete which is a small island located in the southern part of Greece. The dance is a form of five basic steps where the word (Pente) comes from meaning five. The steps are very fast. (Zalo) is the rare Greek word meaning jump. The name therefore translated means "Five Jumps". I learnt about this dance when I got taught many years ago. My teacher told the class and broke it down in this same way which is easy to understand. The dance starts at a moderate paste and increases progessively. It is a war dance that is vigorous with high jumping movements which allows room for improvisation. In the image you can see that all the dancers are in the air together. This is the dance group that i perform with. It's evident that everyone is in time as their feet are off the gorund and lifted at the same height.
These images were taken when I was in Greece last year. My family organised this night for all of my family in Greece to come over and have a huge Greek Glendi, which means a Greek dancing party. The house in the backgorund is where my grandpa grew up, we thought this would be the perfect place to have the Greek night. The house is very old and up high on a mountain so we couldn't disturb anyone so we could party all night long. Till this day I remember how much fun we all had. By the end on the night the floor was covered in napkins, broken plates, tables and chairs. Just by looking at these images brings back such strong memories. All we did was eat, drink and dance all night, people say in Greece that this is their typical lifestyle. This night brought us all closer together as a family. Words couldn't describe how I felt dancing in the country where Greek dancing originated. Greek dancing isn't just for professional dancers, it's for everyone and this night really made me realise this.
This video represents that not all people have to be in dance groups to experience the joy of greek dancing. The people dancing are some of my close friends and family having fun at my sisters 21st and my 18th Birthday party.
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