Find out how to dance the Kalamatianos and the background of this tradition!
The Kalamatianos is a well known traditional dance from Greece and Cyprus. It’s possibly the most famous Greek folklore dance after the Sirtaki and maybe some of you have already seen it. In the American success movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” it’s danced in the ending scene. But the history of it goes back to the ancient Greek Homer who wrote about this tradition in his papers. The Kalamatianos is performed by a group of people dancing in an open circle holding hands or holding together one handkerchief each pair. That is the reason it got the unofficial name “Handkerchief Dance”. A famous song to dance Kalamatianos to is Milo Mou Kokkino. Like every song for this dance it’s composed with a 7/8 beat. There are 12 dance steps for 4 bars with 2 of them backwards (clockwise) 10 forward. You can find an explanation below and also a video to show how to dance the Kalamatianos yourself. To bring the performance to a higher level you can take some of the steps as jumps or squats. Have fun learning!
Tango is one of the most sensual dance which came from Argentina and Uruguay. That’s why we call it argentine tango, but after some time this dance spread to the rest of the world. Still nowedays we can watch old couple dancing on the street. How they enjoy the life and the moment! It is really incredible view. They usually improvise, so it is more unique because it comes from their feelings.
Tango also is thread of a lot of movies. Moulin Rouge, Scent of the women, Take the lead, Step up those famous productions contains scene of the tango’s movement.
Completely different is ballroom tango, which people dance in the competitions. This kind of dance includes close position and side by side choreography. Everything has to be clear and under control but it doesn’t mean that it is without feelings or joys.
Zorba dance is a traditional dance which perhaps everybody associate with Greece. This dance and music were created special for the movie ‘Zorba the Greek’. Thus this dance has become famous almost over the world since 1964.
The Zorba dance as every Greek dance express the happiness. The dancers hit the floor, kneel down and clap their hands. Even they sometimes break the plates on the floor.
This dance is invention of ‘20s and ‘30s and has began in African American communities. Swing dance and jazz music are connected and they create a perfect artistry. However it very difficult kind of dance, because contains a lot of acrobatic positions in the air and not always because of this. Swing usually dance two people together and the women has to be lead by men. It is very important. The dancers look like a bunch of jitterbugs out there on the floor due to their fast, often bouncy movements. The Jitterbug consists of a bouncy six-beat rhythm. This dance is very cheerful and gives you a lot of energy. People always have fun and enjoy.
