Syrtos

We sat down for a great conversation with Maria Koulouris Glanz and Christos Pantieras of Ethos Greek Folklore Association based out of Ottawa, Canada. They shared with us their journeys in Greek dance, and how Ethos is supporting the preservation of Hellenic Folklore today. You can learn more about Ethos using the link below. Maria and Christos, we loved having you on, and can't wait to chat again about some of the deeper topics that did not fully make it into this episode.

https://www.ethosgreekfolklore.org/about

Episode music provided by Endasi

Rania Samartzis- born in NYC, moved to Athens, Greece until I was 8 yo, then moved to Port Richey, FL and currently living in Palm Harbor,FL. My mom is from Kastoria (Macedonia) and my dad is Athenian (his mom from Smyrna & his dad from Thiva). 
I started dancing when i was in school in Greece as part of the school curriculum, then when we moved to Florida with my family, i joined the local church dance group with my brother. As my brother went into college, the group did not have a college dance group so he ventured out to the next local dance group - in tarpon Springs.. Levendia! I joined him shortly after. I have been a part of Levendia (of the St. Nicholas Dance Ministry) for about 15 years now. This year teach the middle/high school group along with Mike. I’ve taught the High School/College groups for several years and this year I also help with the adult group with Maria Kouskoutis as the main instructor.

Nomikos “Mike” Kambourakis 
Born in Kalymnos, Greece - raised in Tarpon Springs, FL! Greek folklore has been a part of my life since I was a baby. My great grandfather Nikitas Tsimouris played the Tsampouna and would play all the time accompanied by his wife (my great yiayia) Nomiki and his 4 sisters singing at the house. I started dancing with Levendia in the first grade and was hooked since as it “ran through my veins” and ive been dancing since. This year I am teaching the middle/high school group of the St. Nicholas Dance ministry.

Music courtesy of Panayotis League

Joe Kaloyanides Graziosi, from the Boston area, has done extensive research on regional dance in Greece and among Greek communities in the U.S. Drawn to Greek music and dance from a young age Joe was an enthusiastic participant in the Greek church dance and New England area community music scene and danced and taught in the Boston area amateur dance groups “Helios Dancers” and “Meraklides” in the latter 1970s after returning from a semester abroad program in Greece in 1975 where he did dance research under the guidance of the noted folklorist Ted Petrides, concentrating at the time on the dance traditions of the Greeks of Anatolia. He has taught throughout the world for community groups and at major folk dance camps, including the Balkan Music and Dance Workshops since 1982, and has taught regularly with Greek performing groups throughout North America. He was a co- founder of New York's Greek American Folklore Society (GAFS) along with its director, Paul Ginis, where he taught throughout the decade of the 80s.

Joe has taught and introduced people to Greek dance in Taiwan, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and England and has taught regularly in Japan since 1990 where he will be returning this summer of 2022.. He has served as judge and advisor for the west coast Greek Orthodox (San Francisco Metropolis) Folk Dance Festival (FDF) since 1984, as well as judge and advisor for the Atlanta Metropolis’ Hellenic Dance Festival (HDF) for 20 odd years. He is, along with Ahmet Luleci, co-founder of the annual World Music & Dance Camp, now in Iroquois Springs, NY and in its 26 the anniversary year, 2022.

He was co-director and organizer of the 1982 Greek Music Tour sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Ethnic Folk Arts Center of NY and the New York State Council for the Arts which brought together major exponents of regional traditional folk music from both Greece and the Greek American communities. In conjunction, he was co-author and co-editor of the accompanying booklet “Greek Music Tour” and consultant for archival recordings of participating musicians. He is also a contributing author to the 2019 book “Greek Music in America” edited by Tina Bucavalas and published by the University Press of Mississippi. During the 1990s and early 2000s Joe was co-organizer and co-host, along with former FDF judge John Lulias, of several tours to Greece, with a concentration on local culture, cuisine, music and dance. Since the onset of covid he has been teaching a weekly on line Greek folk dance class via zoom. Joe produces CD compilations of hard to find regional folk dance music.

His contact information is, email: [email protected] and cell phone: 508-415-4345

The man who needs no introduction, 54Thirty himself, joined me on this week's podcast. We had a good time talking about Greek dance and 900 other things. Enjoy!

We had an absolutely amazing time with the Zoumberakis family! Don't miss some outtakes at the end of the episode!

Check out Stacie's bio below:

Anastacia (Stacie) Zoumberakis has been involved in The Metropolis of San Francisco’s Folk Dance Festival Ministry for over 30 years.  Starting her Greek dance career at 7 years old, she continued dancing for 20 years, ten of which were with the Olympian dancers. 

She has directed for over 20 years, including groups of all different ages, including adult groups with her husband, Stelios Zoumberakis, who has been a dance judge at FDF (Greek Folk Dance Festival hosted by the Metropolis of San Francisco) and HDF (Hellenic Dance Festival hosted by the Metropolis of Atlanta). Throughout the years she developed a passion for all regions of Greece. She has participated in various symposia around the world, including Mazoxi in Crete, Yasoo! Symposiums in Seattle, and various symposia in Northern and Southern California. She currently has extended her knowledge of dance by helping dance groups through Southern and Northern California and providing them with resources for dances,  music, and costumes. Currently, her passion continues through judging at HDF for the last 5 years and helping directors from the Atlanta diocese.

Mrs. Zoumberakis specializes in many areas of Greece, with a concentration in Crete, the Cyclades, the Dodekanisa, and Thrace.  A founding member of the Long Beach Greek Dance and Cultural Arts School, she helped write the by-laws that are upheld today, making it one of the most successful dance programs on the West Coast.  Acknowledging the need for directors, she helped implement a mentoring program in 2004 for young dancers who had an interest in directing.  Since that time, she has helped train over 30 new directors in Long Beach, fostering a wonderful directing team that has learned about teamwork and the importance of instilling our culture and the love of Greek dance to our youth. This program continues with her “students” becoming mentors for the next generation of directors.

John Peppes was born in Athens, Greece, and came to America at a young age. He was raised in Tarpon Springs, Florida – a community populated largely by individuals of Greek descent, allowing him to be exposed to the Greek culture all throughout his youth. At the age of six, John started dancing with the St. Nicholas church dance group. Years later, this group would eventually become the Levendia Dance Troupe in Tarpon Springs, Florida under the direction of John Lulias.

In the summer of 1983, something clicked and Greek dance quickly became a passion for him. Throughout the 1980s, John was fortunate to participate in workshops taught by instructors with similar passion as his. He credits much of his influence to such people as, Dr. Mary Coros, Paul Ginis, John Lulias, Joe Graziosi, George Mavropoulos and the entire Dora Stratou program as well as Ted Petrides.

John is currently a Board Member and Director of KYKLOS Hellenic Society, a non-profit organization incorporated in the State of Michigan. The group includes participants from twelve Greek communities in the Detroit Metropolitan area. He recently took over the youth dance program at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Ann Arbor and also hosts a monthly Hellenic Cultural Night for adults to be exposed to the traditions of dance.

His hobbies also include history, traveling and golf. John can be contacted via email a [email protected]

Caterina Vasilaki was born and raised in Athens, Greece. She has been dancing ever since she can remember herself. At first following her yiayia and aunts at various panigiria in the Epirus region (homeland to her mother) during the summer vacations and then taking ballet classes in Athens. Then she got in touch with Latin dancing and how dance can be a part of everyday life in a trip she took in Latin America. As a kindergarten teacher employed by the Greek state she moved around different areas in Greece where she participated in local Greek dancing groups. A special time for her was when she was stationed in Crete where she became a member of the dancing group ‘Viglatores Chania’ that also became her chosen family. Her time in Chania has been an inspiration to her later development as she moved to Qatar and continued her dancing activities as a dance teacher and organizer of the Greek folk dancing group in Qatar. In 2021 she received her MSc degree in dance studies from the School of Physical Education and Sports of the University of Thrace.

Music and dance have always been an important part of Karolina Ketsiou’s life. At 5 years old, in Melbourne Australia, she took modern ballet and tap dancing lessons.  Her original Greek dance experience was learning the steps to kalamatiano, zorbas, tsamikos and other Greek dances that featured at weddings, christenings and other occasions. When she went to Cyprus she took Greek and Cypriot dance lessons. She was soon invited to be a member of the dance team that performed in hotels and restaurants, for tourists from all over the world, as well as at festivals and celebrations in local villages. When she arrived in Qatar, she mourned the loss of Greek dance, but within months, her love affair with Greek dance continued, thanks to a very special and committed group of proud Greeks, who welcomed her warmly into their dance family.

IG: GreekFolkDancingQatar

Panayotis (Paddy) League is a performer, composer, ethnomusicologist, and author specializing in the traditional music, oral poetry, and dance of the Greek Aegean islands (as well as Northeast Brazil, the West of Ireland, and the wide world of electric guitar music). He focuses in particular on the violin, laouto (steel-string lute), and tsambouna (goatskin bagpipe) music of Kalymnos and Western Crete, performing and recording throughout Greece and the diaspora and publishing widely in academic and popular journals and online spaces. His book Echoes of the Great Catastrophe: Re-Sounding Anatolian Greekness in Diaspora, recently published by University of Michigan Press, explores the legacy of Late Ottoman intercommunality in the music and dance practices of the descendants of Greek refugees from Asia Minor. Panayotis is Assistant Professor of Musicology at Florida State University and serves as Director of the Center for Music of the Americas. He was recently named a Master Artist by the Florida Folklife Program for his work developing and disseminating the art of Kalymnian vocal and instrumental music in his home community of Tarpon Springs, Florida.

James A. Notopouolos Collection of Modern Greek Ballads and Songs

https://mpc.chs.harvard.edu/notopoulos-collection-1/

Modern Greek Studies Association

https://www.mgsa.org/

Episode Music: Panayotis League, Michalis Kappas nd Irene Karavokiros

Panayotis (Paddy) League is a performer, composer, ethnomusicologist, and author specializing in the traditional music, oral poetry, and dance of the Greek Aegean islands (as well as Northeast Brazil, the West of Ireland, and the wide world of electric guitar music). He focuses in particular on the violin, laouto (steel-string lute), and tsambouna (goatskin bagpipe) music of Kalymnos and Western Crete, performing and recording throughout Greece and the diaspora and publishing widely in academic and popular journals and online spaces. His book Echoes of the Great Catastrophe: Re-Sounding Anatolian Greekness in Diaspora, recently published by University of Michigan Press, explores the legacy of Late Ottoman intercommunality in the music and dance practices of the descendants of Greek refugees from Asia Minor. Panayotis is Assistant Professor of Musicology at Florida State University and serves as Director of the Center for Music of the Americas. He was recently named a Master Artist by the Florida Folklife Program for his work developing and disseminating the art of Kalymnian vocal and instrumental music in his home community of Tarpon Springs, Florida.

James A. Notopouolos Collection of Modern Greek Ballads and Songs

https://mpc.chs.harvard.edu/notopoulos-collection-1/

Modern Greek Studies Association

https://www.mgsa.org/

Episode Music: Panayotis League, Michalis Kappas nd Irene Karavokiros

With over 35 years experience as a dancer and 20 years as a dance instructor, Aki’s passion and knowledge for Greek dance has been a large part of his life. His goal is to learn, teach, and preserve Hellenic dance and culture by passing on his knowledge to others. His philosophy entails a holistic approach to teaching and showcasing authentic Greek dances and traditions to all generations and audiences.

He began his teaching career as secondary instructor for the Greek School and Romiosyni’s women’s division in 2003. In 2005, he became one of the senior division instructors of Romiosyni Dance Group which he currently teaches. He is also a member of the Greek Community’s dance committee which oversees all Greek dance-related initiatives in Halifax. He is also a mentor and guide for the instructors in the group.

Aki received training in Canada and Greece through various dance seminars and has been involved with dance research in and out of the field. Despite that he has a vast knowledge of dances from all over Greece, his Pontic background motivated him to learn and research the dances and traditions of his papou. Other areas of specialization include dances, traditions, and songs of Peloponnisos (his other “home”), Kriti, Naxos, Anatoliki Romylia, Evros (Thraki), Makedonia (Drama, Serres, and Florina), Sarakatsanoi (Polites), and the Vlachs of eastern Makedonia.

Outside of dance, Aki works in the field of online learning and specializes in qualitative research, instructional design, curriculum development, faculty development, training, student success, and adult learning. He has taught as a secondary education teacher and as part-time faculty in higher education. Currently, he is a PhD student (in Educational Studies) at Mount Saint Vincent University where he is continuing his academic research on helping faculty shift their pedagogical practices towards learning-centred teaching. In the second half of 2022, he is also planning to conduct academic research related to Greek dance and culture which he hopes to publish.

When he is not working or hitting the books, he spends time with his family, plays soccer all year round, follows his beloved Olympiacos, and is obsessed with everything Star Wars!