Arcadia Greece

Athenians are used to following hypes and the next best thing as quickly as they become available, sometimes without even fully realizing it. Learning Greek traditional dances though has been such a steadily popular pastime for an increasing amount of years now, that labeling it as a simple short-lived trend sounds unfair. Don’t think these traditional dances are outdated or interwoven with provincialism and so redundant to modern day people. Yes, it is hard to practice them at the usual music venues downtown; you won’t see people dancing the kalamatianos, tsamikos, balos or ikariotiko wearing the elaborate traditional costumes. But, when you finally do see people dancing these dances, you can see how much they enjoy it, both the physicality of it and the socializing that comes with it - not to mention the opportunity to know and appreciate a significant cultural aspect.

The Athens center has been introducing Greek dances to the students long before this became a "trend" for Athenian citizens. And we are lucky enough to have faculty members with quite a knack for teaching these dances. The training involves lots of old melodic songs, holding hands and making circles and following the rhythm while trying to avoid missteps. Laughs are guaranteed. Shoes slip off the feet and fly across the room. There is a high probability that, by the end of the evening, the learners will know that whenever a certain syrtaki tune comes on the radio or at a live music taverna they will be able to mingle with the locals like professionals.