Yesterday's class marked the end of another successful year for the Greek Dance Group! We were extremely happy to see so many people participating in the classes this year. We hope you all feel richer from the experience, have had a great time, and are confident to practise your new dancing skills in events and 'glentia' in Greece and around the world.

Classes will re-start at the start of the new academic year, sometime around mid to late September. Between now and then there will be some social and dance-related events. If you want to keep yourself informed about and attend some of these events, then make sure you subscribe in the group's mailing list, using the menu links on the top left of the page.

Hello all!

We hope you all had a nice and relaxing break and none of you are in an airport somewhere waiting for the ash cloud to go away! Just a quick note that the dance classes for the last term re-start on Tuesday 20 April and will run until the end of May.

See you soon

The Greek Dance Group participates at the 25th Dance Festival, organised by the University of Edinburgh. The festival takes place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (11-13 March 2010) from 7.30 pm to 11 pm at the Pleasance Theatre (46 Pleasance, Edinburgh).

 
Feel free to spread the word and try to attend the show as this is always a great night of dance performances. Tickets are sold on entrance as well as in advance at the Plesance theatre. The Friday and -especially- Saturday shows might be sell-outs, so make sure you get your tickets early!

Hello all,
The university has now started and the summer holidays feel like a distant memory? Well, here is something to cheer you up; the Greek dance classes for this year are about to start! 
 
Class times: Classes will be held weekly during term times, from 7-9 pm on Tuesdays. The first class will be held on Tuesday 6 October.
 
Class venue: All classes throughout the first semester will be held at the Teviot Debating Hall (Teviot Row House, 2nd floor). For a map of the venue click here: http://www.ed.ac.uk/maps/buildings/teviot-row-house

Class structure: There will be a beginners slot (no previous experience required!) and an intermediate/advanced slot during each 2-hour session. What's more, the sessions are open to both students and non-students, so EVERYONE IS WELCOME!
 
Class fees: Once again, our instructors have kindly offered to teach voluntarily throughout the year, which allows us to provide you with dance classes that are FREE of charge! There is only a very small registration fee (£10 students/£15 non-students, for the academic year) to cover part of the operational costs.
 
E-mailing list: The Greek Dance Group has an e-mailing list which is different to the one of the Hellenic Society and is used strictly for announcements regarding classes and events of the Dance Group. So, if you are interested in joining the group or you simply want to be informed about its activities, it is essential to sign up to the e-mailing list, which can be done via the group's website at the following link:
 http://greekdance.org/index.php?section=manage_membership

Dear all,
 
As most of you know, there is a very active Greek Dance Group in Glasgow. Not only have we organised a few social events with this group in the past, but also danced together in performances. It's been a while since we last met up with them, so we feel that it's about time for a get-together! These events have always been proven to be great days out, so we hope that as many of us as possible will be able to make it!
 
 
Dance class:
The dance class will start at 3:30pm and will take place in a room next to St Luke's Orthodox cathedral. The address is:
27 Dundonald Road
Dowanhill
Glasgow, G12 9LL
 
Click here for travel directions: http://www.stluke.org.uk/page13.html, or copy and paste the postcode on googlemaps or multimap to get an idea of the location.

Dinner:
After the dance class we will go for dinner to Konaki (Greek restaurant) at around 6pm. The dinner will then be followed by drinks at a nearby bar.

Many congratulations to all 22 dancers for their performance at the Student Festival, as well as to the Vorionisi band for the fine accompanying tunes!

The DVDs from the performance are under preparation and will be available to everyone in the next couple of weeks.

On Tuesday 27 January the Greek Dance Group will be performing at the Edinburgh University Student Festival for the 5th consecutive year! The dance performance will be accompanied with live music by the "Vorionisi" band and will be followed by an interactive session with our instructors, where the audience will have the chance to get a taste of Greek traditional dancing! Entrance is FREE (plus there will be a few pair of tickets for the Greek film season at Filmhouse to be given away), so do come along and feel free to invite others too! The poster of the event is attached.

What? Dance performance by the Greek Dance group, with live music from the Vorionisi Band and interactive session with the instructors.

Where? Teviot Debating Hall (Teviot House, 2nd floor; map: http://www.ed.ac.uk/maps/central-area/teviot-row-house/).

When? Tuesday 27 January, 7:30 - 9:00pm.  

How much?  Free.

See you all on Tuesday!

The Greek Dance Group

Hello all,
 The time has come for us to invite you, for yet another year, to dance with the University of Edinburgh's Greek Dance Group. The group was formed in September 2004, and came together thanks to a small group of friends who shared a passion for traditional Greek dancing. This is the 5th year of operation and the classes will -as always- be OPEN TO ALL, students or not, regardless of experience!
 
Class times: Classes will be held weekly during term times, on Tuesdays from 7-9 pm. The first class will be held on Tuesday 7 October.
 
Class venue: All classes throughout the year will be held at Room 2, at the 1st floor of the Chaplaincy Centre at Potterrow (entrance next to the Bank of Scotland). For a map of the venue click here: http://www.multimap.com/s/jrUmSyKO
 
Class structure: There will be a beginners slot (no previous experience required) and an intermediate/advanced slot during each 2-hour session, so EVERYONE IS WELCOME!
 
Class fees: All dance classes are FREE throughout the year! There is only a very small registration fee (£5 students/£10 non-students, for the academic year) to cover a part of the operational costs.
 
E-mailing list: The Greek Dance Group has an e-mailing list which is different to the one of the Hellenic Society and is used strictly for announcements regarding classes and events of the Dance Group. So, if you are interested in joining the group or you simply want to be informed about it’s activities, it’s essential to sign up to the e-mailing list, which can be done via the group's website at the following link:
 http://greekdance.org/index.php?section=manage_membership

Dear Greek Dance group members and friends,

You are cordially invited to the dance performance of the Greek Dance Group (with live music by the "Vorionisi" band), this coming Tuesday (January 29) at 7:30 at the Teviot Debating Hall (Teviot House, 2nd floor; venue map: http://www.ed.ac.uk/maps/central-area/teviot-row-house/).

The performance will be followed by an interactive session with our instructors, where the audience will have the chance to get a taste of Greek traditional dancing! So, do come along to both watch and join the fun!

Entrance is FREE, so make sure you invite all your friends!

See you all on Tuesday.

The Greek Dance Group

Hello All,
 
The time has come for us to invite you, for yet another year, to dance with the University of Edinburgh's Greek Dance Group. This is the fourth year of opera! tion and the classes will -as always- be OPEN TO ALL, students or not, regardless of experience!

The classes will be held weekly during term times, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm on Tuesdays at the Baird Room, Pleasance (click here for a map: http://www.ed.ac.uk/maps/central-area/the-pleasance). The first class will be on Tuesday the 9^th of October. We will have a beginners and an intermediate/advanced class during this time slot, so EVERYONE IS WELCOME!  

The Greek Dance Group has an e-mailing list which is used strictly for announcements regarding classes and events of the Dance Group. So, if you are interested in joining the group or you simply want to be informed about it’s activities, it’s essential to sign up to the e-mailing list, which can be done via the group's website at the following link: http://greekdance.org/index.php?section=manage_membership  

All dance classes are FREE throughout the year! There is only a very small registration fee (£5 students/£10 non-students) to cover a part of the operational costs. To make things even better, the above fee includes the membership for the Hellenic Society (£3) (membership in the society is a university requirement for anyone attending group classes), and also provides discounts for all other Hellenic Society events throughout the year.

The Greek Dance group will once again perform at the Student Festival! The performance is scheduled on Tuesday the 30th of January, at 7:30 p.m. in the Debating Hall of Teviot Student House (Bristo Square, Edinburgh).

The dancers will be accompanied by live music from the "VorioNisi" band!

After the performance, the audience will be invited to learn a simple Greek dance and get a taste of our weekly classes!

Entrance is free (as usual!) and everyone is welcome!

During the last couple of months we have experienced some technical problems with our service provider. This resulted in all communication through the website (feedback forms, registration forms etc.) and mail getting lost without our responsibility! We are very sorry about that and the trouble caused. We have now moved to a new host and the problem is solved for good!

In case you have tried to register or get in contact with us and did not get any reply we would be grateful if you could try again. Once again, sorry for the trouble and thanks for the understanding!

Registration Fee

For yet another year our instructors decided that they will teach the classes voluntarily and will not get paid for the lessons, which is perhaps unique among the University dance societies and groups. That's good news for all of us as it means classes will continue to be free!

However, due to increasing equipment and maintenance costs that the Greek Dance Group is facing, it was decided that everyone attending the classes should pay a one-off registration fee, so that these expenses are met. This fee will be £5 for students/ £10 for non-students and includes membership to the Hellenic Society of the University of Edinburgh, thus getting you discounted member price in Greek nights and other events the Hellenic Society organises throughout the year.

We apologise for the possible confusion or inconvenience due to earlier announcements of a lower amount, equal to Hellenic Society membership, being mentioned. Our main instructors estimated the current needs and concluded that the £5/£10 fee is necessary to meet costs.

We believe you will agree that even with this one-off registration fee this is still a bargain, as you get high quality dance classes for a whole year for £5!

Thanks for your understanding!

Time to meet again after a long summer... for more exciting dancing and socialising! The greek dance classes start on October 3rd and will be on Tuesdays during university term time.

Note that there are two classes: 6:30- 7:15pm for beginners and 7:15- 8:30pm for intermediate (a.k.a. "old people" who have attended at least since last year). The venue is Teviot Row House and the first two weeks we will be in the Underground Bar. Please check the website for details on which room we will be every week as it may change and please be on time.

See you soon!

Freshers' week

This year the freshers' week takes place from the 10th to the 17th of September. Right in the middle of the welcoming week, on Wednesday the 13th, the Hellenic Society will present one of its most vivid groups "the Greek Dance Group". A taster's class will be open to all freshers to watch or participate.

With the kind support received by EUSA once again we promise to put together a great evening for our new friends.

The group has been running successfully over the last two years and is now preparing for another exciting year with more fun, more dancing and more social activities for its members. We are proud to be the only dance group running entirely by volunteers and offering classes free to students!

Easter Lunch 2006

THE Greek dance group was kindly invited by the Glasgow Hellenic community to celebrate the Orthodox easter with a great lunch at Glynhills Hotel. The event took place on Sunday the 23rd of April and involved a joint performance of the Glasgow and Edinburgh groups and a lot of dancing to live music by a local band.

Click here for some pictures taken by Andrea during the performance of the two groups.

Easter Sunday 2006

SUNDAY the 23rd of April is the orthodox Easter day and the Greek dance group will be dancing and celebrating with the Glasgow Dancers and the Hellenic community in Glasgow.

The celebration will take place at 2pm at the Glynhill hotel (http://www.glynhill.com). We will depart from Edinburgh bus station at about 12:30. Please stay tuned for more information.

Dancers should bring their costumes for the little performance we will give.

The entrance will be free for dancers (please speak to Stelios or Vicky) and will cost £5 for students and £10 for non-students. Everyone is welcome although it is essential to check availability with one of the instructors. 

UoE Dance Show

The dance group will take part in the 2006 show for the first time. Various groups and societies from Edinburgh University will present a mixed dance programme (modern, salsa, tango, scottish and others).

The show will take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights the 9th,10th and 11th of March at 7.30pm in the Pleasance Theatre.

The junior group will dance of Thursday night and the senior group on Friday and Saturday.

The entrance fee varies from £7-11.

Greek Folk Dancing

Well done everybody!!! Everything was great last night and we hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did!

Just to stress out once again that the performance was put together entirely by volunteers. Many thanks to all the dancers for showing their best dancing skills and to our band for an excellent performance. We should also thank Sotiris Sabanis who volunteered who kept us dancing till late with great dj-music.

For yesterday's successful event we should also acknowledge the great support and cooperation of the Hellenic Society committee along with a significant contribution by EUSA (the Edinburgh University Students Association) and its VP for Societies and Activities.

Stay tuned in the website for more photos and videos from the performance!

Greek Dancing Show

click for the programme

After one and a half year of operation the Greek dance group of the Hellenic Society will be performing in front of a students audience again on Tuesday the 31st of January, in the Debating Hall of Teviot Student House (Bristo Square, Edinburgh).

The event is scheduled for 7.30pm and will be followed by snacks and refreshments (the union bars will be open, as well). An interactive session will follow to give you a chance to try Greek dancing and get a taste of our classes.

And all this with live music by the "VorioNisi" band and members of our recently established music group.

A Greek glenti will follow with Greek dj-music and the party will end at 1am.

Entrance is free (as usual!) and everyone is welcome!

Papachelas files

In http://www.euxintv.net/ you can find extracts from the recent documentary of Papachelas about Pontos (Greek only). Also some more information about the Pontos Issue in the Greek and German language.

Visiting Glasgow dancers

There is a small photo album (Giorgos' collection) from Saturday's class and social events in Glasgow -> click here.

Sousta is on of the most recent dances taught during the Greek Dance group classes. It is believed that the Cretans have been dancing Sousta since the ancient years. The collage on the picture is attempting a parallelism between ancient and 19th century Cretan Dance and an emphasis in Cretan dance's cultural continuity. The figurine on the top right of the collage shows a form of Sousta dance that looks very similar to the one performed by the female dancers in the other two photos, dated at around the 1930's (Photo courtesy of Benaki museum. Click on the photo to enlarge).

Serra from Pontos

Video clip  (courtesy of Dunav.org.il)

Serra is the name of a river in Turkey near Platana, which is now called Akçaabat. The dance has a changing 7/4 - 7/16 rhythm. The gutteral calls by the leader indicate a change of step.

Considered by many as the most challanging Pontian dance, Serra is a man's "performance" dance, only for the very best dancers. This clip shows two men showing their "Serra skills" at a party from the Agios Germanos seminar in Florina, 2001.

Glasgow Dance & Social Event

The Glasgow excursion event is this coming Saturday! More details regarding transportation and other arrangements will follow soon on this page.

Meanwhile, please do email Stelios@Greekdance.org if you are interested!

The Hellenic Society is organizing a live greek night on Saturday 3/12/2005 at The Cabaret Bar - The Pleasance. Laiko, rebetiko and traditional Greek music will be performed by the Edinburgh-based band, the Navient. The performance will start at 9:30 p.m. and will finish at 1:00 a.m., so don't come late!

There might be some Greek dancing as well so try not to miss it!

Admission: 2 £ (hellenic society members), 3 £ (non - members), 4 £ (membership and admission)

On Saturday the 10^th of December we will be visiting the Glasgow Hellenic Dancers (more info about that group at the end of this article). This event will combine a joint dance class with other social activities. A rough guide of the day’s programme will be as follows:

13:00: Leaving Edinburgh by bus (or car)
14:30: Arriving at the dance class venue
15:00 – 17:00: Dance class with -possibly- live music from members of the music group
18:00 – 20:00: Dinner at the Konaki Greek Restaurant (special price for the groups)
20:00 – till late: drinks & more socialising!

Last time we visited the Glasgow group (May 2005) we had a great time. Click here to see some pictures of that day: http://greekdance.org/index.php?section=album&title=Visiting%20Glasgow%20Hellenic%20Dancers 

We will have a β€�dance group special priceβ€� for the dinner. Last time we paid just £9.50 for a two-course meal including wine/drinks! The price will be similar this time, but we will know the exact amount once the number of people is finalised.

On the way back, buses leave the Glasgow central station every half hour until midnight, while there are two more buses at 01:30 and 3:00 for those wishing to stay longer for a night out.

EVERYONE IS WELCOME! We hope that some of our musicians will be able to join and -possibly- bring their instruments along to play some music for us. It is not compulsory to attend all events, i.e. you can come just for the dance/dinner/or even drinks! However we would like to know who is coming in order to make arrangements for the dance venue and the restaurant bookings.

So, please let us know if you are coming by sending an e-mail to Stelios@greekdance.org? We will be asking again closer to that date, but if you are able to tell us now please do so, in order to get a rough idea about the numbers.

---Some info about the Glasgow Hellenic Dancers---

 The Glasgow Hellenic Dancers are an active group of Greek-Scottish and Greek people with passion and love for the Greek tradition and folk dances. Since last year we have been having a very good relationship and co-operation, which is not limited to joint teaching sessions and mutual visits, but is also expanding to the purchase of a traditional costumes (leading to costs reduction and better use of resources), joint performances and other activities.

More info about the Glasgow Hellenic Dancers in the following link: http://www.freewebs.com/glasgowhellenicdancing/

Music for training

Chris has put in our 'private area' some recordings they made with Pav. Download them and practice for next class. There are also sheets with the music notes.

Balkan dance evening

There will be a evening of Balkan dance Thursday 17th November at St Ninian's Church Hall on Comely Bank Road betwen 8-10pm. All are welcome.

It will be all live music supplied by Zdravets and the dances are mainly Bulgarian but also from all over the Balkans. Many dances are easy, some harder ones will be taught quickly, difficult ones are just danced if you can. There will be some nibbles and drinks.

The hall is on the right of Comely Bank Rd (going out of town) just past the Safeway supermarket and just before the Orchard Brae roundabout. The entrance to the hall is down the side passage to the left of the church. Bus no. 42 goes along George 4th Bidge and The Mound then through Stockbridge and on to Comely Bank Rd and right past the church.

25 Oct 2005

Yesterday's class was great fun. More than 30 dancers flooded Teviot Terrace room and danced Balos, Stamna of Cyprus, Maleviziotis from Crete, Kalamatianos, Tsamikos, Tik of Pontos and many other dances. The guys from the music group were also very entusiastic after playing a couple of tunes with our experienced instructors.

We thank you for turning up and we thank our dance and music instructors for taking us to this amazing trip around Greece and Cyprus.

Anyone with an interest in Greek culture is welcome to join!

May we please remind you to type your name and email address so that we can contact you by email (click here).

fun ? excercise ? socialising ?
                          whatever the reason. . .GO Greek dancing!

Missing Greece? Love traditional dances? Want to exercise? Need to remember this damn kalamatianos you learned at school, or that sirtaki you were dancing during your last holidays in Greece?

What ever the reason... come join us!

Time for the first dance class of the year! The coming Tuesday (4th of October) at 7pm, at the Teviot House (Terrace bar).

Our instructors have now organised everything and welcome you all to the new class.

Vicky and Stelios have been running the group since Sep. 2004 for the greek dance enthusiasts and lovers. They are both volunteers which means that the classes are !!!free of charge!!! for all of you. 

Beginners or not, you are cordially invited to join the Greek dance company of the Uni. You don't have to have previous experience as our instructors start from scratch.

What's more? The group's activities span from dance and music classes to participation in festivals (and various other events), organised outings, excursions, the traditional drink after the class etc.

Look forward to seeing you all this Tuesday at 7 pm!

The Greek Dance Group

Instructor's meeting & music class

The instructors meeting will take place in TEVIOT, Terrace bar (click for a map) on Tuesday the 27th Sep. at 7pm. This is a good opportunity for new instructors to join the team and discuss about this year's dancing programme.

Prior to the instructors meeting, at 6pm, we will have the introductory music class. Those that expressed an interest in learning a traditional instrument and any others that would like to join the class, please be there at 6pm for a prompt start. Please, note that the number of available instruments is limited and therefore priority is given to the dance group members. If you have your own instrument bring it along.

Freshers Week - Societies Fair

We trust you all had a great summer and you are now ready for some Greek Dancing! The details for the new classes (beginners and post-beginners) will be announced soon once our instructors have finalised them.

Next week the Hellenic Society will have a stall at the Societies fair (Wed and Thu 10.30am to 4pm) where the Greekdance group will present! As  the group operation is entirely based on voluntary work we would like some (or all) of you to be there in shifts and let the freshers know how much fun we have! You will be provided with flyers and posters. Please write us a quick message in the feedback for on the left if you can make it.

We are planning to hold a surprise event at the venue for the hundreds of freshers that will be present. More to be announced closer the time!

Traditional Instrument Classes

Would you like to learn playing Greek traditional Instruments?

This year in parallel with the dance classes you will have the opportunity to take some folk music classes. Chris Elmes of the Zdravets has volunteered to help the starters by giving some classes to members of the group.

You don't have an instrument?

No worries at all, the group will provide a range of traditional instruments for a limited number of people. 2 lyra's, 1 Ntaouli, 2 toumperkeki, 2 Ntefi, Zilia have been bought for you with kind support from EUSA. If you have your own instruments (violin, guitar etc) you can certainly bring them along! 

When, where?

The classes will take place from 6 to 7 every Tuesday just before the dance classes.

More info will be posted soon. Stay tuned!

Paintball game

A tough game was played last Sunday in Livingston :) here is the evidence.

|pic1|pic2|pic3|pic4|pic5|

Have a great summer people!!! Looking forward to seeing you all in September.

There will be a evening of Balkan dance Thursday 26th May at St Ninian's Church Hall on Comely Bank Road betwen 8-10pm. (Sorry abou tthe lack of notice.)

It will be all live music supplied by Zdravets and the dances are mainly Bulgarian but also from all over the Balkans. Many dances are easy, some harder ones will be taught quickly, difficult ones are just danced if you can. There will be some nibbles and drinks.

The hall is on the right of Comely Bank Rd (going out of town) just past the Safeway supermarket and just before the Orchard Brae roundabout. The entrance to the hall is down the side passage to the left of the church. Bus no. 42 goes along George 4th Bidge and The Mound then through Stockbridge and on to Comely Bank Rd and right past the church.

EUSA grant

We are delighted to announce that EUSA have approved our application for a £1450 capital grant.

This is the second grant we receive for this year raising our income to £1650. EUSA judged that it is fair to help this new dance group establish itself within the University. They allocated money for the purchase of traditional-costumes and musical instruments for the newly ethnic music group that will possibly start in September.

To view the proposal we submitted and the breakdown of the costs click here (pdf 570kB).

To all those that believed and tirelessly supported the dance group a big THANK YOU! 

I think we all had a great time last Saturday (the 7th of May) in Glasgow. The Glasgow Hellenic dancers were great hosts and both the dancing session that lasted 2,5 hours and the Konaki (920 Sauchihall Street) session ;) were excellent!!! Thank you so much!

Here is the updated photo album that is found under the 'group events' section.

T-shirts order

A medium size female t-shirt (left over) from the february delivery is for sale for just £6 (first come first serve)

and

the Dance group will be ordering some new t-shirts for its members and friends. There will be two options: i) the typical navy blue t-shirt (around £8.00) and ii) a polo t-shirt (around £12). A big variety of colours is available!

Please, let us know if you are interested.

Easter Barbeque at Rankin Dr.

Hello, the dance group is invited to our Easter barbeque on Sunday the 1st of May (noontime) at our garden at Rankin Drive. Technical details will follow through the list.

All you have to do is pray :) for good weather. The yes or no signal will be sent by email on the day.

Pontic music

here is a nice website about Pontos, its music history and people. Find free music and notes for the musicians. For more visit: http://www.scimitarmusic.com/

Leigh Cline has done a fantastic job. He is, himself, a guitarist/composer that "creates his own distinctive style of music that combines his background in folk/blues/Celtic music with the polyrhythms and scales of the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia".

Back to school ?!?

Did you fill up your batteries? classes start again soon, so get ready! The next class will be on Wednesday the 20th of April in the Terrace Bar of Teviot Union. See you all at the usual time (7.00pm).

As this Wednesday is the last class before the Easter break, we have a couple of special events taking place!

Firstly, the Glasgow Hellenic Dance group will be joining us for the class! Following our recent communication, several members of the Glasgow group expressed their interest and are very excited about coming to dance with us this Wednesday. Moreover, Dora, the instructor of the Glasgow group, will be showing us a new dance!

In addition, the Zdravets will bring their instruments along to play live music for us!

Just to remind everyone that the venue is the Pleasance Highland room, at 7 pm.

See you all there!

PS: For more info about the Glasgow Hellenic Dance group visit: http://www.freewebs.com/glasgowhellenicdancing

The Greek School of Edinburgh organised a fundraising carnival party at Hilton Hotel on Saturday 12/3. The Greek dance group was invited to participate with a small group of 6 people. Stelios, Claire, Kostas (Katsoulakis), Mae, Sofia and Valeria prepared an impressive choreography of Chassapikos and Pentozalis and gave a taste of Greek dancing to all participants. The party turned out to a great night with lot of music and dance!

The videos from the Student Festival event are now online in the "group events" section. The quality is low to keep the file size small. Enjoy them!

You can also request a CD with the show.

Hello all, the Greek dance group alone received £200 (the 7% of EUSA's funding for 106 events) to support its student festival performance. In addition to that the 'mother' ;) Hellenic Society has contributed £55. 

We should thank very much both HELSOC and the EUSA for their great support!

UPDATE

The Katsa Kleftiki (Sarakatsanoi) material is now online. Click here for more!

www.GreekDance.org now online!

and also: library.Greekdance.org

Fancy a yourname@greekdance.org email address???
Talk to us next Wednesday!

The roots of Sarakatsani

According to the traditions and the unwritten evidences of our �own people�, the area that gave shape to Sarakatsani and their nomadic way of living was Ipiros-Agrafa-Akarnania. The geographical location of this area, which combines high mountains and the warm winter quarters by the sea along with the stock breeder tradition, was ideal for the nomadic life style of Sarakatsani.
 
When Turkish occupied Greece �we went up to the mountains� elderly sarakatsani said. The homeland of Sarakatasani is the geographical area of Agrafa, where Sarakatsani lived approximately until 1812. Sarakatsani who were from Agrafa were considered honoured. This can be seen through the wedding song, common among the community of Sarakatsani, referring to the godfather, �Be young and honored for ever and famous in the city and registered with Agrafa�.

Resource: Traditional folk union of Sarakatsani of Drama, Greece 

Attention: All Dancers action required NOW

The festival time is approaching and we are now due to order the Dance Group T-Shirts. Anyone (member or not) can buy the Dance Group T-shirt however priority will be given to those that will dance at the Student Festival.

IMPORTANT: The Instructors would like us ALL to participate to the Festival. If you can make it please:

1) SEND US AN E-MAIL as soon as possible (latest by Monday the 17th Jan). 

2) PICK YOUR PREFERED SIZE for the Group T-Shirt you will receive FOR FREE:

For boys:
Size:        S         M          L        XL        XXL
Chest:     36"   38/40"   42"   44/46"    48"

For girls:
Size:          S           M          L        XL      
Chest:     30/32"    34"      36"     38" 
UK size:     10        12       14      16

The above sizes are in Inches (=2.5cm).

For questions please email psiharakis@hotmail.com

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 
Best wishes to all dancers out there!

Good health, love and prosperity for all people on earth!

ho ho ho...

This is what I call a Chaniotis Sirtos! This is what I call a dance group! [click here]

Merry Christmas and a happy new Year ;)

Our last class (of this year) will be held in the Pleasance Sport Center (Hiland Rm). For a map, please, click here. Try not to miss it as we will be practising for the festival and for one more reason;

the BRITISH-BULGARIAN-GREEK BAND

will be with us again to play
Baidouska, Tsamikos and Zagorisios LIVE

Join in and have fun J in this LAST festive session. Drinks will follow as usual.

Dear all,

The last class before Christmas will be held the coming Wednesday at the Highland room (at the Pleasance) from 7-9. Apologies for the change of venue -it is just for this time-, the Teviot Terrace bar was booked for other University activities. The Highland room is where the first two classes of the Dance group were held in October. If you want to see a map of the location, click here. 

See you all on Wednesday!

This is a dance from Thessaly. The word "Karagouna" means "black coat" although Karagounes (girls of the Thessalian valey) don't wear black coats. So the origin of the name is not clear yet. The dance actually comprises of a mix of several dances... [more in the e-library]

Hello everyone!

As some of you might know, there is a student festival at the end of January - beginning of February. As the group seem to be exceptionally good so far J , we are considering to participate in this festival. The purpose of such an event will not only be the  performance, but also to serve as an introductory session for people that are interested in (and/or want to have a fun night out by) watching and learning Greek traditional dances.

The date is still to be confirmed, but it will probably be on a Wednesday from 7 onwards. More details (as well as discussion regarding a final decision for participation) at this Wednesday’s class.

As you see, it is much more than...a usual class... so why not, join us, catch up with some help from Vicky and Stelios (our instructors) and be an active member of our company!

This meeting is primarily for the instructors (though all are welcome) to discuss the details. The sound will also be tested and some other details will be arranged.

Note that Teviot is not available on Wed 6/10 and Wed 13/10 so the Highland room of the Pleasance (sports center) has been booked for us. Just for those two meetings we will start at 8.30pm