Sydney dance school, Thrasivoulos, celebrated a big milestone this year, with a magnificent 20th anniversary concert held in Hurstville. Around four hundred and ninety people attended on the day to watch the almost two-hour long concert.
Otherwise known as the Greek Folk Dancers of NSW, the dance school was founded by Vasilios Aligiannis, a Sydney-based history teacher. The concert was organised and supported by the Organisation of Pan-Hellenism, which was founded recently. It aims to provide a place for those who have an interest in Greek culture a place to experience it and become more involved. This concert was one of their first big events.
Far from being an exhibition of student talent, the concert was a focus and exploration of the important moments of traditional Greek life re-enacted by dancers and accompanied by music and dance from all over Greece.
It included the talents of singers and musicians outside of Vasilios’ own dance group, featuring musicians Dion Manasis and Angelos Tsovaras from Melbourne, and singers and chanters.
Mytelinean and Cretan dance groups performed on the day, from the Mytelinean Brotherhood of Sydney and NSW and the Cretan Association of Sydney and NSW. In addition, Sophia Ventouris and the Hellenic Dance company also contributed to the show with their groups and people.
True to its theme and the traditions of Greece, the production began with an ancient song, played by Vaggelis Papageorgiou from Hellenic Arts and who helped coach some of the first-time singers. The song was followed immediately by a scene featuring a member of Thrasivoulos, Susan Liakatos, singing a lullaby to a crying baby, before singing again later in the performance.
Susan is a long-time member of the dance group and attends with her daughter and sister-in-law, Marie, and her mother. The laouto player was her cousin and the chanter was her brother, whom she practiced with in preparation for the performance. This means that three generations of their family performed in the concert. The people who performed ranged from young children to grandmothers and grandfathers.
Some of the performers had not sung or danced in a large production before, including Susan. “Was I nervous?… Yes, I nearly had a coronary,” she said. Vicki Paranemos was also nervous as a first time performer, having only started dancing in April after she attended a workshop in March. She had no training before this apart from what she learned when she was young at Greek school and she said that she “loved every minute of it.”
The audience didn’t see any of this however, and reacted well to the performance and organisers received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback. Some were surprised at the large range of Greek dances and costumes, which were changed according to which region each dance came from. Others were surprised that certain types of Greek dancing were so vigorous, referring to the Cretan dance group.
This focus on tradition continued throughout the performance, with traditional wedding ceremonies and dances from Macedonia to comical Kalymnian songs about married life and Christmas Carols of Thrace and depictions of the Klidonas festival from the Aegean. These performances and the dances which accompanied them, told a story. As one dancer described it, without the history and the tradition, “then it’s just a dance, it’s not in the context of the place and the people and the purpose for which it was danced…what it signifies.”
This is something which Vasilios values, as he teaches his dancers the traditions and history of each dance. The whole concert was a celebration of Greek tradition from all over Greece coming together. The performers hard work before the big event – in some cases practising three days a week – paid-off. They enjoyed working with other dance groups to put on a show and look forward to continuing.
*Eleni Assargiotis is the President of the Cretan Youth Federation of Australia and New Zealand and Editor of Media Scape, an Arc publication.