Achilleas Tsiaras
Saturday Workshop: Roumlouki
Sunday Workshop: Vlachika of Askiou
Sunday Workshop: Vlachika of Askiou
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Achilleas Tsiaras was born and raised in Meliki, Imathia (Macedonia). Meliki is one of the largest villages of Roumlouki in terms of population but also in importance of cultural and dance heritage, as the preservation of many elements of folk culture lasted longer than other villages. Growing up in an environment where these elements were experienced and part of everyday life, Achillea gets incentivized and is led to the observation and documentation of local dances as well studying the local traditional dress in the area. This research and documentation continued in the rest of the Roumlouki villages, giving a more comprehensive and complete picture of the dances and costumes as well as the variations or differences that exist between them.
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As an expressor and researcher of the Roumlouki tradition, he teaches dances in local dance associations, participates in dance seminars in Greece and abroad. His study and his research on the Roumlouki costume has been presented in seminars, workshops and courses such as in the Folklore Laboratory of the Historical Archeology Department of the Democratic University of Thrace. In recent years he has been collaborating and compiling (from a dance and costumeperspective) dance groups of the diaspora in America, receiving extremely positive reviews and the first place in the FDF competition festival. He has participated in documentaries, articles in folklore magazines, editing CD publications, radio and other cultural activities. For a number of years he collaborated with the Lykeio Ellinidon of Athens for the publication of a music album dedicated to Roumlouki, which is accompanied by photographs and commentary texts and is a part of the collection of the TEFAA Department of the University of Serres. In addition, he is a collaborator of the Giorgis Melikis Mask Ethnographic Center - Mask Research Center where he edited the permanent exhibition of Roumlouki costumes.
Achilleas Tsiaras is currently a dance teacher at the Folklore Club of Melikis and Perichores, the Folklore Association of Makrohori Localities, the Cultural Associations of Koulouras and Korifi Imathia, while he was a teacher at many Roumoloukio clubs (Alexandria, Kefalochori, Episkopi, Xehaseni, Loutro, Paliohori, etc.). In addition to teaching, he continues researching the dances, songs, costume and customs of Roumlouki. He organizes the revival of customs such as the Rougatsia, the Lazarines, the inter-village dances and oversees the carnival theatrical performances of the Meliki Folklore Club as part of the Meliki Carnival where he is also a member of its committee.
With the same zeal, he researches and records the dances, songs, customs and costume of Namata, Kozani, his father's place of origin, where he is president and teacher of the Association. His research focuses on the villages of Namata, Vlasti and Kleisoura in Kastoria as these three villages show several similarities. He was the curator of the edition of the double CD with music and songs of the Namata (2003), revives with the dance association the custom of Klidona, records the techniques of making and embroidering the traditional costumes of the village and contributes to the preservation of the “Tranos Dance” on the Fifteenth of August.
Finally, he is a founding member of the Vlach Cultural Society of Kozani Prefecture "Fandina". He recently founded in Alexandria with his wife and also a dance teacher, Giouli Dimos, "CHORODRASIS", a cultural workshop of traditional dance and other diverse cultural activities.
Achilleas Tsiaras is currently a dance teacher at the Folklore Club of Melikis and Perichores, the Folklore Association of Makrohori Localities, the Cultural Associations of Koulouras and Korifi Imathia, while he was a teacher at many Roumoloukio clubs (Alexandria, Kefalochori, Episkopi, Xehaseni, Loutro, Paliohori, etc.). In addition to teaching, he continues researching the dances, songs, costume and customs of Roumlouki. He organizes the revival of customs such as the Rougatsia, the Lazarines, the inter-village dances and oversees the carnival theatrical performances of the Meliki Folklore Club as part of the Meliki Carnival where he is also a member of its committee.
With the same zeal, he researches and records the dances, songs, customs and costume of Namata, Kozani, his father's place of origin, where he is president and teacher of the Association. His research focuses on the villages of Namata, Vlasti and Kleisoura in Kastoria as these three villages show several similarities. He was the curator of the edition of the double CD with music and songs of the Namata (2003), revives with the dance association the custom of Klidona, records the techniques of making and embroidering the traditional costumes of the village and contributes to the preservation of the “Tranos Dance” on the Fifteenth of August.
Finally, he is a founding member of the Vlach Cultural Society of Kozani Prefecture "Fandina". He recently founded in Alexandria with his wife and also a dance teacher, Giouli Dimos, "CHORODRASIS", a cultural workshop of traditional dance and other diverse cultural activities.
George Liaros
Saturday & Sunday Workshops: Cyclades
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Giorgos Liaros is from Elafonisos, Laconia. Despite his young age, in 1993 he joined the Dance Theater Dora Stratou, where he continued until 2009. In 2000, he took over the first sections of Dora Stratou Hora as a dance teacher.
In 2002, and for five years, he led the Dance Group of the Paros Municipality. This role brought him into close contact with the everyday life and experiences of the local residents of the island, inspiring him to research the music and dance traditions of Paros and the wider region of the Cyclades. |
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In 2009, he founded the artistic workshops for learning Greek Traditional Dance under the distinctive title Hellenic Folklore Society for Expression & Culture (E.L.ET.E.P.). To date, he continues to serve as the artistic director and dance teacher of the departments. With ELETEP, he has created a series of successful performances at the stage of the Foundation M. Cacoyannis.
In 2010, Giorgos Liaros created and released a CD referencing the music-dance tradition of Paros, titled "Dance Two Eyes," which received highly positive reviews.
Giorgos Liaros has conducted research in many regions of Greece. Due to his focus on Paros and the Cyclades, he is often invited as a speaker in these regions and at seminars worldwide, including in Australia, America, Canada, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Cyprus.
In 2010, Giorgos Liaros created and released a CD referencing the music-dance tradition of Paros, titled "Dance Two Eyes," which received highly positive reviews.
Giorgos Liaros has conducted research in many regions of Greece. Due to his focus on Paros and the Cyclades, he is often invited as a speaker in these regions and at seminars worldwide, including in Australia, America, Canada, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Cyprus.
Mixalis Tsaknakis
Saturday Workshop: Anatoliki, Thessalia
Sunday Workshop: Vlachika of Grevana
Sunday Workshop: Vlachika of Grevana
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Mixalis Tsaknakis was born in 1984 in Larissa, where he still resides. His origin and initial musical and dance stimuli come from Samarina, Grevena.
In 2003, he managed to gain admission to the School of his first choice, the Department of Physical Education and Sports Science at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He graduated from there in 2009, specializing in Greek traditional dances. He is a graduate of the Postgraduate Program in Sports Management at the Hellenic Open University. |
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Even before his graduation from the university, specifically from 2002 until today, he has been working as a traditional dance teacher in various cultural associations in Larissa and the wider region. From 2007 to the present, he has collaborated with the Educational and Cultural Association of Averof “O THETTALOS,” the Exoraitikos Association of Pournari, the Educational and Cultural Association of Ossa, the Cultural Association of Kalochori, the Educational and Cultural Association of Parapotamos “Prophet Elias,” the Educational and Cultural Association of Armenio "Anthimos Gazis." From 2019 to the present, he has been collaborating with the Association of Samarina Larissa and Surrounding Areas “Agia Paraskevi.” From 2007 to 2019, he worked with the Cultural Association of Chalki Larissa, the Cultural Association of Sotirio “Agios Athanasios,” and the Arvanitovlachoi Association of Argyroupoli.
He is engaged in documenting Vlach dances and songs from the Pindus region, as well as the dances and songs of his hometown, Samarina. For many years, he has been involved in researching the dances, songs, customs, and traditions of the Eastern Thessaly and Aspropotamos region.
He has been primarily responsible for the choreography of dance performances by the associations he works with and has collaborated on shows aired on ERT 2 and ERT 3, aiming to showcase the rich Vlach dance and music tradition, as well as the Sarmanian tradition. He is married and the father of two children who also love traditional dances.
He is engaged in documenting Vlach dances and songs from the Pindus region, as well as the dances and songs of his hometown, Samarina. For many years, he has been involved in researching the dances, songs, customs, and traditions of the Eastern Thessaly and Aspropotamos region.
He has been primarily responsible for the choreography of dance performances by the associations he works with and has collaborated on shows aired on ERT 2 and ERT 3, aiming to showcase the rich Vlach dance and music tradition, as well as the Sarmanian tradition. He is married and the father of two children who also love traditional dances.
Joseph Kaloyanides Graziosi
Saturday Guest Speaker
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Joseph Kaloyanides Graziosi was born and raised in the greater Boston area. Of Greek and Italian ancestry, Joe was exposed at an early age to Greek music and dance through both family contacts and participation in Greek American social and cultural events. He received a B.A. (cum laude) in History from Brandeis University in 1976. In 1979 he moved to New York City and later, after a few years in the San Francisco Bay Area starting in 1996, he moved back east to live on Cape Cod, where he currently resides.
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Joe began his formal pursuit of the study, documentation and promulgation of traditional Greek dance in 1975 during a semester-abroad program in Athens where he worked with the noted folklorist, Ted Petrides. Since then he has done extensive independent research in folk music and dance in Greece, the former Greek areas of the Anatolian Peninsula, and the Greek American communities in New England and New York. He has compiled an exhaustive library of scholarly research as well as a comprehensive video library and musical archive. Concurrent with his research he has danced for and advised several Greek American performing groups.
In 1982, under the sponsorship of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ethnic Folk Arts Center, he directed the Greek Music Tour, composed of highly esteemed practitioners of traditional music from both Greece and the immigrant community in the States who performed throughout the northeastern U.S. In conjunction with the tour he was principal editor and author of an accompanying booklet on Greek music, dance and instrumentation, as well as advisor to studio recordings now archived in the New York City-based Center for Traditional Arts. Joe, along with the late Paul Ginis, co-founded the Greek American Folklore Society (GAFS) in Astoria, NY, where he taught throughout the 80s. Since 1984, he has taught traditional folk and urban dances of the Greek peoples for various organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada, including at major dance camps, weekend seminars and retreats for both professional and amateur dance troupes as well as for social clubs, community and church groups and folk dance organizations throughout the U.S., including Hawaii and Alaska. In 1990, Joe was invited to teach Greek dance in Japan and Taiwan, and returned to Japan in 2017 for his twelfth visit. He has also introduced people to Greek dance in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, England, and Brazil; and last year, for the first time, in Mexico. He has been a guest lecturer on Greek dance and music for the ethnomusicology departments of the Universities of California Los Angeles and Santa Barbara (UCLA and UCSB). Since 1985 he has served as advisor and judge for the annual Folk Dance Festival (FDF), held under the auspices of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of San Francisco, which encompasses the western U.S.; since 2002 for the annual HDF (Hellenic Dance Festival) of the Atlanta diocese; and more recently for the short-lived Chicago-based AGDC (America’s Greek Dance Competition).
Joe is the co-founder and former co-director with Ahmet Lüleci of the annual World Music & Dance Camp, formerly on Cape Cod, MA, now held at Iroquois Springs, NY. Joe has produced numerous anthology CDs of dances from recorded sources not widely available in the United States, which he makes available to students in his classes.
Joe began his formal pursuit of the study, documentation and promulgation of traditional Greek dance in 1975 during a semester-abroad program in Athens where he worked with the noted folklorist, Ted Petrides. Since then he has done extensive independent research in folk music and dance in Greece, the former Greek areas of the Anatolian Peninsula, and the Greek American communities in New England and New York. He has compiled an exhaustive library of scholarly research as well as a comprehensive video library and musical archive. Concurrent with his research he has danced for and advised several Greek American performing groups.
In 1982, under the sponsorship of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ethnic Folk Arts Center, he directed the Greek Music Tour, composed of highly esteemed practitioners of traditional music from both Greece and the immigrant community in the States who performed throughout the northeastern U.S. In conjunction with the tour he was principal editor and author of an accompanying booklet on Greek music, dance and instrumentation, as well as advisor to studio recordings now archived in the New York City-based Center for Traditional Arts. Joe, along with the late Paul Ginis, co-founded the Greek American Folklore Society (GAFS) in Astoria, NY, where he taught throughout the 80s. Since 1984, he has taught traditional folk and urban dances of the Greek peoples for various organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada, including at major dance camps, weekend seminars and retreats for both professional and amateur dance troupes as well as for social clubs, community and church groups and folk dance organizations throughout the U.S., including Hawaii and Alaska. In 1990, Joe was invited to teach Greek dance in Japan and Taiwan, and returned to Japan in 2017 for his twelfth visit. He has also introduced people to Greek dance in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, England, and Brazil; and last year, for the first time, in Mexico. He has been a guest lecturer on Greek dance and music for the ethnomusicology departments of the Universities of California Los Angeles and Santa Barbara (UCLA and UCSB). Since 1985 he has served as advisor and judge for the annual Folk Dance Festival (FDF), held under the auspices of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of San Francisco, which encompasses the western U.S.; since 2002 for the annual HDF (Hellenic Dance Festival) of the Atlanta diocese; and more recently for the short-lived Chicago-based AGDC (America’s Greek Dance Competition).
Joe is the co-founder and former co-director with Ahmet Lüleci of the annual World Music & Dance Camp, formerly on Cape Cod, MA, now held at Iroquois Springs, NY. Joe has produced numerous anthology CDs of dances from recorded sources not widely available in the United States, which he makes available to students in his classes.
