Manasis School of Greek Dance and Culture held its biggest annual dinner dance to date last weekend, with hundreds turning out to attend the event.
Held at Star’s International in Preston on Saturday 17 September, it was the dance school’s 10th year performing in the space for family, friends and other members of the Greek community.
School director, Dimsothenis Manasis told Neos Kosmos he was overwhelmed by the positive response on the night.
“We run this event every year and each year just seems to get bigger. We had absolute maximum capacity,” he said.
“Our school currently has over 700 enrolled students, and just under 200 of them were able to get tickets with their families for this event.”
To help cater to the large number of guests, Mr Manasis revealed organisers had to replace the venue tables with trestle tables, which proved to be a big hit giving the space more of a bouzoukia and paniyiri-style atmosphere.
The exceptional talent of performers was no exception this year, wowing the audience with students of all ages performing from the three year olds right through to the professional dance group.
But the clear stand out on the night were the senior dance group with their debut performance of a new modern routine. In the works for just under two years before being unveiled on Saturday night, students emerged dressed all in black and showcased a variety of traditional dances with heavy ballet-style choreography accompanied by modern music.
“It proved to be a big hit,” said Mr Manasis. “Facebook’s gone absolutely viral all week and we’re already getting invitations to perform the routine around Melbourne and events that are on our performance calendar.”
The school also hosts a large-scale concert in June each year, where all students have the chance to perform in a theatre set-up to accommodate both students and spectators.