TRADITIONAL GREEK DANCES
Dance in Ancient Greece
In ancient Greece, dance was one of the most basic elements of the education of young people. In ancient Sparta for example, dancing was part of the harsh military training of young Spartans.
Religious dances were part of the religious ceremonies and mysteries of the ancient Greeks. In the theatrical performances professional dancers ie the orchestra performed the dances in tragedy, comedy and satirical drama. Also, the preparation for the games and wars included war dances. But also in their private lives, the ancient Greeks danced at banquets and weddings, while mourners performed mourning dances. Terpsichore, one of the nine muses, was for them the patroness of dancing.
Cultural communities and traditional dances
The Greeks, as a nation, are made up of cultural communities, i.e. groups of people who have a common origin and are linked by ties of common cultural action (eg common traditions, common customs and traditions). In the Greek area, we find such cultural communities in Thrace, Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly, Roumeli, Morea, Crete, the Ionian and Aegean islands, Cyprus. Each cultural community has its own local dances which differ from town to town or village to village.
In every region of our country there are local dances. They are usually danced at major annual celebrations such as Easter, Halloween, the first day of spring, as well as at baptisms, engagements, weddings, etc. By learning our dances, songs and traditions, we learn how our ancestors lived in earlier times.
Nomenclature of dances
The name of the dances comes mainly from the way in which each one is danced or from the geographical area in which it was first danced. The zonaradikos, for example, got its name from the fact that dancers get caught in their belts. The svarniara (karagouna), from the way the girl who dances it moves. Zaharoula, from the name of a girl. O antichristos from the facing position of the dancers. The zagoris or syrtos Chaniotikos are dances that are danced in Zagori in Epirus and in Chania in Crete respectively and from there they got their name.
Traditional costumes
Each cultural community of Hellenism has its own traditional costume. The costumes were divided into festive, everyday and wedding (bridal, groom). The women's costume presents a very wide variety with intense colors, embroideries and ornaments. The men's costume is more modest than the women's and its main types are the trousers and the dress.
Dance is the rhythmic movement of one or more persons performed to the accompaniment of music or song. In ancient times it was called choros and the song of the orchumenas (the song) and this group of the orchumenas (dancers). According to Maurice Bejarts, dance is one of the rare human activities where man gives himself completely: body, heart and spirit.
As such an activity, it appears very early in human societies as a means of externalizing emotions and as a cult ritual.
The tendency to dance seems to be instinctive when we consider that it can even be traced to many other species of the animal kingdom. Many birds, or animals for example, perform - mainly when looking for a mate - various rhythmic movements through which they externalize their needs. In this way, they demonstrate – as is assumed – their good condition, which will allow the process of the correct natural selection.
Such a deeply rooted instinctive reaction, therefore, is natural to have evolved under the influence of various cultural factors into a very sophisticated phenomenon with different manifestations from people to people and from era to era. In other words, it must have been influenced both by religions and by the more general concept of ethics that prevailed at times.
Thus the Indians, in order to offer the sun god morning or evening sacrifice and prayer, instead of doing so, turned towards the east and greeted him by dancing. The Ethiopians started the battle after first dancing.
The noble Roman priests, the Salii, danced with great art in the streets of Rome, at a certain season, armed war-dances, to honor Mars, Zeus, Janus, and their other great gods.
The Greeks believed that dance was a gift from the gods to man so that he could forget, through it, the labors and sorrows of his life. We find descriptions of dance in very ancient texts and already in Homer, we find it in full bloom, with the climax of its perfection certainly in the classical era.
According to mythology, Zeus was saved from the wrath of his father Saturn, thanks to the dance of the Shears, and the noise made by their swords as they hit their shields. Athena first invented the "Pyrrhic" war dance, to celebrate her victory over the Titans.
The "naked children" dances of the Ancient Spartans, which were danced on regular days by naked dancers, were religious in order to honor Apollo, Artemis and Leto.
On the other hand, mythology had the muse Terpsichore as a "special" guardian of the dance, while even Socrates felt a particular inclination towards dance and enjoyed it with pleasure: "And of the Memphis orchesis, Socrates the wise and oft-occupied orchumen, as Xenophon's fissi , he told his acquaintances, everyone is a member of the gymnasium of the orchesin."2 (Athenians, "Dipnosophistai" BA. 37) That is: "Even the wise Socrates loved the dance of Memphis, and when many times, he was caught dancing, as Xenophontas says, he used to tell his acquaintances that dancing is an exercise for every member of the body".
In general, the human soul was relieved from its passions with the delicate specialized movements of the various dances. That is why they invented religious, martial, gymnastic, theatrical, banquet dances, dances for weddings and other joyous or mourning processions, national or folk dances.
From the multitude of these dances, the folk dances have survived to the present day, which were distinguished according to their region of origin into Troizenians, Epizephyrians, Ionians, Mantineans, etc. This timelessness is certainly due to the fact that these dances were the most suitable means of entertainment for the broad masses layers and thus they were cultivated more intensively in all eras3. It is impressive that even in the period of the Byzantine years, although the attitude of the Orthodox – as well as the Catholic – Church was hostile towards the dancers, some of the ancient rhythms survived and were incorporated from the popular strata in their daily events.
So the dances of this period still remain "circles" with elements that directly refer to today's traditional dance practice. The "syrtos" of the Byzantines, for example, was danced by many dancers, held by the palms or with handkerchiefs in between, and over time evolved into a mixed dance. The "Pyrrhios" and "Kordakas", an ancient obscene dance, still survived at that time. which was performed by theater actors.
During the period of the Turkish occupation, the dance, in combination with their integral part, the song, was a powerful weapon against alienation and the loss of the National consciousness. It is important to point out that in this period new types of dances were born that describe heroic deeds and great moments of Greece, which strengthened the moral resistance of the slaves even more. Such dances are the "Kangeleutos" in Halkidiki, the "Makrynitsa" in Naoussa and the "Zalongou Dance" in Epirus.
The kleftic dances, on the other hand, were closely connected with the military preparation and entertainment of the disorderly military corps of the kleftarmatols.4
After the liberation and the creation of the first Greek state, a genuine traditional expression can be observed in the dances and music that were influenced either by the history of the regions where they come from or by the beauty of the Greek landscape
The picturesqueness and variety of these dances, the majority of which are characterized by the main erotic element, combined with the picturesqueness of the local costumes, is a characteristic feature of Greek culture and the various groups that constitute the Greek identity. It is the original continuation of the folk dances of antiquity, as can be seen in many of them, from their rhythm and their movements. Irrefutable witnesses to this are the relevant descriptions of the ancient texts, the reliefs, the wall paintings, which the archaeological dig brought and brings to light.
Greek traditional dances are divided. depending on their region of origin into two main groups: mainlanders and islanders.
The name of each dance follows:
a) from the name of the dance area
b) from the words of the song that accompany the dance
c) from the positioning of the dancers
d) by the grip of the hands
e) from some objects that are used (eg scarf).
Another important distinction of the dances is between jumping and crawling. The former contain bounces and "jumps", while the latter are mainly characterized by a calm crawling movement on the ground. Of course, this separation is conventional and not the only one. Even the same dance can vary from region to region or even from dancer to dancer, taking on the particular color that characterizes it.
In general, however, the morphology of the terrain of each place seems to play an essential role in shaping the style of the dances that are danced in that place. Thus, the island dances are more bouncy, with more complex foot movements and bring to mind, with their frequent strokes, the waves of the Aegean sea.
On the contrary, the mountaineers dance more heavily, more intensely, with a stubbornness - one might say - that comes straight from the cruelty of the battle with the adversities of mountain life.
The most widespread form of Greek dances is the circular, while we also find the double-barred, the straight line (e.g. in "Argos Hasapikos" or "Fysouni"), the paired and the opposite form.
Another important dance form, with a pan-Hellenic presence, is the "Labyrinth". These dances are directly related to the ancient dances that come from the myth of Theseus and the Minoan Labyrinth. In them, the dancers change direction in semicircular shapes, creating a real labyrinth in the space where they are performed. There are five variations, depending on the type of "snakes" they form and amount to a total of about thirty dances in the areas where Greeks live or lived in the past.5
The most famous of the "Labyrinthic" dances is the "Tsakonikos", a Peloponnesian dance in 5/8 rhythm.
As much growth Greek Traditional Dances experienced until the Second World War, they seem to be in decline today - especially in the big cities. The phenomenon is certainly also explained by the fact that the conditions that created them no longer exist.
This does not mean that men have ceased to love, or that they do not still stand in ecstasy and fear before the unknown of Death. Simply, the ways of expression are now different, the outlets are more standardized and offered by third parties, with the result that the oldest way of entertainment, in which the traditional dance is undeniably included, will slowly begin to disappear.
However, the endurance of the Greek element has been tested in conditions more difficult than modern ones: in long-term slavery and wars. Resistance to the coming rampage of leveling cultural globalization has already begun to emerge, and traditional dance once again has a role to play. Of course, although the diversity of the past is limited, it is important that the Greeks still march through history with "cycling" dances, even if they have still degenerated into a monotonous "jumping and trotting", without, many times, not even " backtracking', this does not mean that it has lost its meanders, its rhythm or its opposite or paired shape.
On the other hand, the Greek countryside, as well as the big cities, are now full of a multitude of cultural associations that deal with traditional dance. The contribution of the Physical Education teachers both to them and to education is invaluable. It seems that it fell to them to keep unquenched the torch of tradition which will show the way to the future and demonstrate the diversity of the Greeks in a world in which, those who have nothing different to present, will be fatally assimilated and it will be lost in the whirlwind of everyday consumerism
However, caution is needed: The great trap is to fall into the voracious need to impress and to deprive our folk dance tradition of what it possessed in excess: moderation and modesty.
Many dance clubs, under the - no doubt benevolent - guidance of their dance teachers, present a "folkloric" spectacle that is far removed from the way our grandparents and parents danced these dances.
In the following pages, we will try to take a short tour of the Greek area and present the main dances found in the various regions of our homeland. We will try to mention, at least briefly, the conditions under which they were created, the circumstances in which they were danced, and for some of them we will also note their movement content, which most of the time, as mentioned above, is directly related with the moral and social structures of the societies in which they developed
http://zaliosparadosi.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-post_9729.html
GREEK TRADITIONAL DANCES BY REGIONS
Tsiamitros Ioannis writes
(Traditional dance teacher dances)
In this note we list summary but essential information about Greek traditional dances by region. The subject is huge, but such a brief approach can help those interested in our dance and raise awareness among others. The richness, variety, diversity and beauty of our dances is so great that it would be a shame if they were lost and forgotten. The data was drawn from our personal experience and the literature.
1 EPIRUS
Epirus is a mountainous and barren region with a cold climate. Her music has a slow and rhapsodic character, we also find the unique polyphonic songs, and the sittings, obituaries and skaros have a special place. The music and dance tradition of Epirus is defined by three major sections. The first, centered in Ioannina, extends to the provinces of Kourento, Zagori, Pogoni and N. Thesprotia, the second to the mountainous mass of the mountain range of Pindos of the Vlachophones and the third to N. Arta and Preveza. The dances of Epirus are characterized by a slow, dynamic and majestic movement in which the upright posture is emphasized and the heavy step is emphasized. The most basic dances are the dances in threes, in twos, the zagorissii, the syngathisti, the berati, the chamikoi, nine famous dances (fissouni, elenaki, etc.) etc.
2 MACEDONIA
Macedonia is one of the largest regions of Greece and presents a rich dance repertoire. In Macedonian dances, one can find many rhythms and an unparalleled dynamism. As in Thrace, Macedonia is considered a source of religious customs of ancient origin. We could divide it geographically into three categories: Eastern, Central and Western Macedonia.
Central Western Macedonia has, on one side, the mountain ranges of Olympus, Hasia, Pieria, Pindos, which resemble the Thessalonian style, and on the other, the lowland, urban areas of Pieria, Rumluki, Veria, Naoussa, Kozani, Siatista, Kastoria and Florina with a purely local character. We have a wide range of dances.
In the mountainous areas we find dances in twos, in threes, Beratikos, strotos, tsamikos, Vlach conjoined dances, trano dances, etc. While in the plain we find bagpipe-type dances, urban dances, butchers' dances, Kalamatian dances, Stagaines, Patrones, Baitouskes, Karsilamades in 9 times (11 etc.), Leventicus of Florina, dances of Naoussa (Nizamikos, Papadia, etc. etc.), of Rumlouki (Maria, etc.), of Goumenissa (Lissavo, Bella Olympia, etc.), of Halkidiki (Kagleutos, etc.) special dances such as Kori Eleni, Pusetnitsa, Raiko, etc. .Pi.
Eastern Macedonia competes in music and dance tradition with the other two regions with approximately the same dance repertoire. The Seraiikes, Gaides, Baituskes, the Drama dances (Teska, Ramna, etc.), the Vlachs of Serres (Hatzistergios, Antipera, etc.), the butchers, the Sarakatsaniki (in three, katsa, etc.) stand out. .), karsilamades and circular dances (Ormanli, Bell baby Mitro) in 9 times.
3 THRACE
The entire region of Thrace was an ancient religious and musical cradle of Greek culture and ancient Greek customs.
It is divided into three sections: a) North b) West c) East.
The dances of the North are faster than the dances of the West and are quite similar to each other, while the dances of Eastern Thrace are similar to those of Politiki and Asia Minor.
The dances that one meets in Thrace in general are the Tapeinoi, the Gyknes, the Baitouskas, the Zonaradikas, the Kousetos, the Koustos, the Syngathistis, the Sirto-Sygathistis, the Mandelatos, the Kalamatians, the Xesyrtoi, Dakhtili (Western Thrace), the butchers, the karsilamades, political parades (Eastern Thrace), and special dances such as the Bogdanos, the melissos, the Sfarlis, at three, troiro, podaraki, the zervos etc. of Anat. Romilia, etc. (along with the dances of Western Thrace, of course).
4 THESSALIA
For most Greeks, the historical region of Thessaly, where the presence of man has been established since the Paleolithic era, is intertwined with the Thessalian plain that spreads out surrounded by towering mountains. Thessaly borders Roumeli, Epirus, the West. Macedonia, washed by the Aegean Sea and musically related to these regions. The Sarakatsani, a semi-nomadic and pastoral people with characteristic thief dances such as Liakaina, Katsadikos, Stauratos, Katsantonis, Ech more, etc. In the area of Argithea, the klaistos (form of clay glass) is characteristic. Thessaly is a melting pot of many cultural groups (Vlachs, Sarakatsani, refugees from Eastern Romilia, Cappadocia). Towards Pelion we have dances with an island character (balls, syrtoi, butchers) and various local dances (Georgalakis, tis galanis the dress, the Zagoriana ships came, etc.), while the dances of the Thessalian plain are syrtios, Kalamatians, in threes, in twos (Karaguna-Svarniara) scattered Beratians, Paschaliatians (Tai-Tai), Eight-year-old Synagogues, etc.
5 SOLID GREECE
This area remains to this day one of the most "Greek" areas. The word de Roumeli characterizes the recognition of the Greekness of its area. As in Epirus, here too we have songs of history and theft. Dominant dances are the tsamikoi, the syrtoi (Kalamatians) in threes, the kaggelias, Easter singing dances, the Megaritikoi dances (trawl dance, brilliant arch, Ludovikos, etc.) where one meets elements of mainland and island Greece and custom -Mesolongitic religious dances (Patinada Aisymiotiki, racht, dance of the dead, etc.)
6 PELOPONNISOS
The Peloponnese is a part of Greece with a huge historical tradition. It presents a contradictory cultural reality which extends from the conservatism of some of its isolated areas to its extreme modernization (especially of its large coastal centers) and is thus characterized by an easier abandonment or simplification of the various forms of popular culture. Exceptions are the areas of Tsakonia, Mani, where traditional elements of an earlier culture are preserved (Maniatiko magaloi, Tsakonian dialect). Kleftikas, historical songs and backgammon abound, while the dances we encounter are preeminently the Kalamatian, in threes, the tsamikos, the tsakonikos and traditional dances such as the dance of AiGiorgis from Nestani in Arcadia.
7 ISLAND AEGEAN
Generally speaking, two cultural zones can be distinguished in the island Aegean. One includes the islands of the Thracian Sea and the Eastern Aegean, where the influence of the East is evident, and the other the Dodecanese and the Cyclades, with an obvious influence of the West. There are also two island subdivisions, those of the Sporades and the Argosaronic islands. The beginning of the music-dance history of the Aegean is lost in Antiquity (Greek mythology rich in musical life, the birth of Apollo, etc.). The dances are characterized by the "marriage" of East-West and local idiom. Characteristic features of the Aegean character are the "lightness" of the movements, the "jumping" of the knees and the low jumps of the dancers. There is a very wide variety of dances where two forms predominate 1) the Sirtos and Ballos and 2) the Trias in slow and fast rhythm. In the islands of the Eastern Aegean we have Karsilamades and Zeibekika, local dances (Pyrgousikos, tripatos, etc.) in the Thracian sea local dances (Yar Yar, Tsobanikos, Platanisios, Kechagiadikos, Patma, etc.) in the Dodecanese the siganos , the isios, the susta and the zervos, in the Cyclades the syrtoi and the balls, Vlacha Naxos etc., and in the Sporades the syrtoi, the balls, local dances (Kamara etc.) as in Argosaronic islands.
8 CRETE
Crete is the largest island in Greece and its geographical position characterizes it as one of the oldest centers of European Hellenism. The Creto-Minoan civilization (prehistory) was for the Greeks the starting point of their evolution. The dance since ancient times (war dances of the Barbers) has entered deeply into the life of the Cretan who, by dancing, shows his virility and his boyhood. Cretan music is characterized by traditional songs and mandinades. Cretan dances are distinguished by the particularly characteristic movements of the body ("the passes of the body", the "bones", the "cracks", the "chalimias"), i.e. the personal figures of the protodancer.
There are a large number of dances such as the Apanomeritis, the little one, the Laziotis, the Koutsambadianos, the Agaliastos, the Zervodexos, etc. which with the passage of time were limited and thus today we have 4 basic dances such as Syrtos (Haniotikos), Pentozalis, Maleviziotis (Kastrinos – leaping) and Sousta.
9 CYPRUS
Like Crete, Cyprus is a large island and is located at the crossroads of three continents (Asia, Europe, Africa) and it is clear that it has been a transmitter and receiver of a huge music and dance tradition since antiquity (Neolithic era) and with a key element that it has preserved the GREEK language. The folk music of Cyprus is based on the tropical scales of Ancient Greek Music, Byzantine church melodies and the musical style of neighboring peoples of the East and the Mediterranean.
Cypriot dances are mainly antichristian (with improvisations), which are danced by two people (only men or women) and individual skillful dances for the men who dance in combination with some accessory (sickle, sieve, glass, etc.). The dances usually begin with the suites of antichristos dances consisting of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th antichristos and 5th or Ballo. We also have drag dances, zeibekia, ciftetelia, the mantra, the lehiko, the arapias, etc.
10 I INCREASED
The Ionian Islands, due to their location and historical circumstances (Venetian conquest, etc.), show a special color, influences from the west, Epirus, Central Greece and the Aegean islands. Cantadas have a special place (they are polyphonic of everyday life where the poetics does not come from folk song but from spoken poetry). The predominant dance on all the islands is Syrtos (Divaratikos, Karavitikos) and by island we have the dances: Corfu (Rouga, Aigiorgis, Korakianitikos, etc.), Kefalonia (Mermigas, Manetas, etc.), Lefkada (Milia, the John the Marathian, Thiakos, etc.), Zakynthos (Levantinikos, Stavrotos, etc.), Kythira (Geranos, Bourdaris, Tsirigotikos, etc.)
11 M. ASIA BEACH
The roots of the songs of the beaches of Asia Minor must be traced to the ancient Ionian musical style where the seven-stringed guitar and the barbitus first resonated 2700 years ago and the nine-time rhythm of the Asia Minor songs is found in the choral parts of tragedies by Aeschylus, Euripides and poems by Sappho, Alcaeus and Pindar.
The dances of Asia Minor are closer to the Neohellenic because the rebetika and folk dances by extension come from this music, especially from Smyrna. The rebetiko song was the musical expression of the poorer and marginal classes and after the disaster of 22 it extended to the poorer classes of the large urban centers of Greece. In the dances of the beaches of Asia Minor we have the family of 1) the syrtos, balls or syrtoballos, 2) the butchers, 3) the karsilamads and the 9-year-old zebekikis. (Karsilamades are danced facing each other and zembekikas are danced by one dancer usually).
12 POINTS
An area along the shores of the Black Sea with strong ancient origins. Like all refugees, they came to Greece in 1922 with the exchange of populations (Treaty of Lausanne). The special geographical position of Pontus justifies the strongly peculiar style of its music. Characteristics of the style are the fast and complex rhythm and the peculiar dance movement. Pontic dances are difficult to learn (shaking, uneven timing, etc.) and are characterized by the vertical movement of the body, the excessively fast rhythmic training, the full participation of all dancers, the absence of the lead dancer, the fast alternating dance movements and the active participation of all parts of the body. In terms of dance, Pontos is not unified (Eastern, Western, Kars region). The various tiks, omals and kotsari have a primary place in today's repertoire. There is a great variety of dances and recently there has been great research into dances in Pontus and dances forgotten in their original form are now being taught in the clubs. Other great dances are the Seranitsa, the Serra (Pyrichian dance), the macchiai, the Patoula, the Letsina, the Trygona, the Kotsagel, etc.
13 CAPPADOCIA
Cappadocia is a geographical region in the interior of Asia Minor. The Orthodox Greek minorities of Cappadocia are recorded in 6 main regions: Caesarea, Prokopio, Neapolis, Akserai, Nigdis and S. Eastern Cappadocia (Farasa). The Greeks of Cappadocia, living for centuries among other nations, other languages and other religions, managed to preserve their Christian faith and their national consciousness. Important factors in this event were the church and the tradition which is directly linked to the religious holidays. It is no coincidence that certain dances are connected with religious holidays. The dance of Saint Basil from Farasa is typical. Other dances are the Antipascha dance of the Egg, dance of handkerchiefs, spoons, zeibeki with knives, antichrists, etc.
Greek dances
LAITY
If genuine Greek feasts, festivals, weddings and family gatherings until dawn are among your favourites, all you have to do is watch the Dance Club programme, which gives you the unique opportunity to be introduced to the world of Greek Folk and Traditional dances , to get to know the culture of each region and above all to have fun and join the "circle" by dancing...
Zeibekiko
The word Zeibekikos comes from the god Zeus according to the first composition
(Zeu) and according to the second from the word "bekos or bekos" which means bread according to Herodotus. According to some others, from the ancient Thracian word "bouko", which comes from the Phrygian word "bekos", meaning "mouth = bite". This together with the first compound, the vocative of Zeus "Zeu", produces the word "Zeibekides". The Zeibekis were Greek Thracians, who followed M.Alexander in his campaign in the depths of Asia. They called them "zeibekia", meaning animal dealers and butchers, because they slaughtered animals and sold them. Over the years they wanted to immortalize their heroism and preserve the traditions and so they created this dance, Zeibekiko, which they danced with swords in their hands and sometimes in their mouths. The original form of this dance was the Pyrrhic, a war dance and it was considered as a kind of martial training and was learned from young children. Zeibekikos reflects defeat in battle and is danced in honor of dead warriors. This is also indicated by its circular movement and the heavy feeling it exudes. Today we dance it to various tunes, which vary according to their thematic content. In any case, it continues to be the dominant element of our entertainment!
Butcher shop
It is a dance and a type of song of the Greeks from Macedonia and Constantinople. Its roots go back to the Byzantine period, when it was a dance imitation of a sword fight by the Greek butchers' guild in Macedonia and Constantinople. Forms of this dance were known from earlier years in several parts of the Greek or Greek-speaking Christian area, but mostly in Constantinople and its wider region. In the past, to dance a butcher had to wear a trajaska with a raised visor, doing the same step as if they were all one body. Hasapiko formed the basis for Syrtaki and abroad it is considered the most representative Greek dance. Today it is found in 4 forms: butchery, butchery, heavy/slow butchery and “politiko/Tataulian”.
Also taught are: Sirtaki, Hasaposervikos, Karsilamas
TRADITIONAL
Kalamatian
It is a traditional Greek dance that belongs to the syrtos dance genre. In its basic form it has twelve steps, of which the first seven are forward and the remaining five in situ. Its pleasant rhythm and simple steps established it as the most popular Greek dance. It is danced all over Greece by men and women.
Chamiko
Tsamikos is a traditional Greek dance. In the past the chamiko was danced only by men, but in modern times women also take part. The etymology of the word comes from the word tsamis, which means "tall", and refers metaphorically to the Levantine stature traditionally possessed by the dancers, since "tsami" is called fir or pine in some areas. According to another version, the name comes from Tsamouria, an area of Thesprotia in Epirus. It is also called Kleftikos, as it was danced by thieves during the Turkish occupation.
Also taught are: Syrtos in grades 2 and 3, Zagorisios,
Zonaradikos, Baiduska, Aptalikos, Leventikos.
ISLANDS
Ikariotiko
The Ikariotikos, as its name suggests, comes from Ikaria, but it is also danced a lot in other regions of Greece, by both women and men. Although in the past it was danced with arms crossed, today it is danced by holding the shoulders and has nine basic steps!
Cretan
Dances are an essential cultural characteristic of Crete. Of the 25 traditional dances recorded today, the most widespread are limited to five: the Pentozalis, the Haniotiko (Syrto), the Sousta, the Malevizioti (Kastino Pidichtos) and the Sigano. The fast dances of Crete Pentozalis, Sousta, Maleviziotis or Kastrinos, the Pidichtoi have a musical background originating from the ancient Pyrrhic dances that were military gymnasiums. More detail…
Maleviziotis took its name from the province of Malevizio where it formed its final form. It is the most masculine, the fastest and most impressive dance of Crete. It is danced by men and women, initially, in the direction of the circle and then in a straight line. The basic steps of the dance are sixteen (eight forward and eight backward). The dance can be "drag" by any of the dancers, detaching from the circle and reaching forward. Its dance structure allows the first dancer to develop improvisations, i.e. to vary his step, with skilful jumps, with seats, with multiple claps of the hands on the feet (chalimias), with claps of the feet on the ground, with pauses, turns in the air (mares), etc.
Pentozalis or Pentozali is danced by men and women. It was called pentozali because it symbolizes the fifth zalo (i.e. step), i.e. the considered fifth hope of the Cretans for the liberation of Crete from the Turks and not because it has five steps as many have mistakenly said. It is purely a war dance and it expresses insurrection, levity, heroism and hope.
