Episodes
Michelle is a member of the Greek American Folklore Society based in Astoria, Queens. Michelle was born in Los Angeles, grew up in Athens, with roots in Volos, then moved to San Diego at the age of eight. She proudly both Greek and Filipina but for the purposes of this podcast will focus on the Greek American experience. After moving to the US she found community in the St Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church and first FDF was in Anaheim 1997 (?) and continued dancing while in grad school with the...
Published 10/30/24
Published 10/30/24
Haralambos (Harry) Koutroumanis was born and raised in Tampa, FL, and moved to Charlotte, NC, in 2023 after graduating from the University of Florida in Gainesville with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Finance. His folk dance research primarily focuses on the island of Crete. Harry gained interest in Greek folk music and dance through the Cretan Sillogo of Clearwater in 2017, and also began dancing with the Hellas Dancers of Holy Trinity Clearwater. Despite having no Cretan origin, he...
Published 10/28/24
Charlie Kleto was born in Charlotte NC and is now living in Miami FL working as a physical therapist. He began dancing in Charlotte when he was in kindergarten and competed in his first HDF in 7th grade. Charlie began directing in 2011 and took his first group to compete at HDF 2012. While directing for Holy Trinity in Charlotte, he was also competing with Thrylos in the advanced senior category. Over 6 years ago Charlie moved to Miami for graduate school and very soon began directing the...
Published 09/25/24
Jersey born and SoFla raised, Chloe started folk dancing at the age of 15 with the Kamaria Dance Troupe at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Ft. Lauderdale, FL under the direction of Stephanie Balaskas and later, Emmy Louvaris, and competed at her first HDF Competition in 2007 in Clearwater, Fl. She continued on to direct her first festival group during her undergraduate years at Florida State University at the Holy Mother of God Greek Orthodox Church in Tallahassee, FL.  In 2013, Chloe...
Published 09/18/24
Michael is a native of Knoxville, TN, a self-taught luthier and a lover of Crete. Join us as we chat about his experience and learn how he got to know and love Crete and its culture! You can find Michael on Instagram @mchambers_00 Episode music: The Anemos Music Project
Published 09/15/24
We are thrilled to kick off season 7 of the Syrtos podcast with Charissa Gianos from Denver, CO! Thank you Charissa for your patience as we navigate a new recording set up for season 7! Don't miss the Kefi at Mile High Dance Workshop and Glendi, September 20-22, in Denver, CO! Also, be sure to listen to the entire episode to learn about some of the amazing CDs Charissa has recorded. Charissa Gianos is the Director of the Denver Dynamis Hellenic competition dance group, and Vice Chair of the...
Published 09/08/24
Niko, born and raised in the Kansas City area, his mom is an immigrant from Greece, and has always made Greek culture important to Niko and his sister. Niko plays Cretan lyra, and bouzouki. He works as a paramedic and firefighter. Episode music: The Anemos Music Project
Published 08/03/24
The Metropolis of Boston Dance Group (MYDG) is a not-for-profit Greek folk dance group founded in 1989 by Niki Dimotaki-Sokolove under the auspices of His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios and is the only dance group in North America certified by the Dora Stratou Dance Theatre of Athens, Greece.The mission established by founder Niki Dimotaki-Sokolove and His Eminence was to instill the culture and tradition of Hellenism and the appreciation of this great heritage in the Greek Orthodox youth of...
Published 04/15/24
Yia Mas is founded by Greek American Kristina Maria Headrick. After witnessing the effects of Greece's devastating financial crisis on friends and family, Kristina felt compelled to share more about the country's culture and support Greece by bringing Greek wellness products to America.  Yia Mas marries Kristina's Greek upbringing with her research on Greek philosophy, dance, design, and culture. Kristina's curiosity and appreciation for self-inquiry inspire her to share Greek folk remedies...
Published 04/08/24
Kaeli McEnteer was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina and has been Greek dancing for 15 years. She has just begun directing, having just concluded her first year as director of the Raleigh adult dance troupe “Ischis”. She grew up heavily involved with her home parish of Holy Trinity where her passion for dance was unlocked. Over the years Kaeli has expanded her knowledge of traditional dance through her former directors, going to HDF, doing her own research, attending workshops, and...
Published 04/08/24
Andonis Platis is the adult director for Orpheus Hellenic Folklore Society based out of Chicago, IL. A seasoned cardiac medical device professional, he began his career as a perfusionist and researcher in the field of heart failure while also teaching for the community of Saint Demetrios in Tucson, AZ; his hometown. His “καταγωγή” is from the Axaia region near Aigio and Kalavryta. Since college, Andoni found Greek dance as a passionate hobby with on-going research and field studies with...
Published 04/07/24
Zaharoula Zogopoulos was born in New York City. She began her Greek folk dance studies while attending the St. Demetrios Day School of Astoria, NY where the love of Hellenic traditions was instilled in her from a young age. She began choreographing her highschool Greek Dance Team and performed with the Pan-Macedonian Association of New York. Parallel to her Greek folk dancing, she continued to train in classical dance in NYC. She went on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts in Drama, Theater, Dance...
Published 12/31/23
Michael grew up in Salt Lake City, UT and from the age of 8 is where he discovered his love and passion for Greek Dancing. Fast forward over 20 years later, Michael still has that passion. Michael has participated in the GOYA dance groups, Dionysios College aged dance group, and the Minotavros Cretan dance groups in Salt Lake City. After his time in the youth groups was complete, he has since became an instructor for the youth dance groups to pass on the traditions to younger generations and...
Published 12/29/23
Nektarios S. Antoniou, is the new Principal Cantor of the Ascension Cathedral, Oakland, is a member of the American Academy of Composers, Authors and Publishers, writes & produces Music for PBS' "The Life of Loi". He is the Founding & Artistic Director of Schola Cantorum (which recorded the encyclopedic: “A Story of the City: Constantinople-Istanbul” with a Grammy Award winning and nominated cast). He produced, curated the Byzantine Music for the "Augmented Realities Series" for the...
Published 12/27/23
Maria and Nikos sat down with Stacie and Stavros, competition and FIT chairs of the Hellenic Dance Festival to chat about HDF2024 and more! For more information please visit www.hellenicdancefestival.com and hdf_weekend on Instagram and Facebook. https://www.hellenicdancefestival.com
Published 12/26/23
To learn more about the South Florida Greek Film Festival, including sponsorship information and how to submit a film, visit: https://hellenicculturalsocietyofsouthflorida.org Saturday October 14Savor Cinema: 503 SE 6th Street, Ft Lauderdale6:00pm red carpet6:45pm movie 123 minFollowed by reception sponsored by Souvlaki.gr (http://souvlaki.gr/) Eftihia: The story of songwriter Eftyhia Papagiannopoulou (1893-1972), who escaped the burning of Smyrna and journeyed to Athens, Greece, where she...
Published 09/20/23
Ο Στέφανος Πελεκανής, ο νεαρός καλλιτέχνης της Παράδοσης που ξεχώρισε και αγαπήθηκε για τις ιδιαίτερες ερμηνείες του αλλά και το ξεχωριστό ηχόχρωμά του είναι ένας νεαρός ερμηνευτής της παραδοσιακής και εκκλησιαστικής μουσικής, φιλόλογος και μουσικός που τιμά την παράδοση και έχει ήδη συνεργαστεί με σπουδαία ονόματα στο χώρο της παραδοσιακής μουσικής κάνοντας περιοδείες σε ολόκληρη την Κύπρο και έχει εμφανιστεί σε διάφορες τηλεοπτικές και ραδιοφωνικές εκπομπές σε Ελλάδα και Κύπρο. Γεννήθηκε...
Published 08/02/23
Gabriella Papatzimas, born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, has always had a strong connection to her Greek heritage. Growing up in the Greek community at Holy Trinity in Phoenix, she embraced the language, culture, and traditions from an early age. As a first-generation Greek-American, Gabriella’s first language is Greek, and she takes immense pride in her roots. After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Arizona State, Gabriella embarked on a career in Real Estate Tech as...
Published 07/19/23
Katherine Papadimitriou Ladikos was born and raised and still lives in Atlanta, GA. At the age of 4, she and her brother Dimitri were dragged from Saturday Morning Cartoons to meet with a woman named Eleni that would teach them Greek Dancing inside the dining room of a restaurant. Who knew from both sides that one simple dance of Kastorianos would take a full day to master and turn into a lifetime of love for Greek Folk Dancing. Katherine & Dimitri would perform their duet for a few years...
Published 06/28/23
Kostas Mitsis was born in 1975, in Munich/Germany and moved to Preveza/Greece in 1976, where traditional dance and music held a significant role in his everyday life. He studied Agriculture at the Aristotle’s University of Thessaloniki and Greek Dance and Songs at Lykeion ton Ellinidon of Athens and several other institutions. He speaks Greek, English and German. Kostas has devoted his career to the rich musical and dance traditions of Greece. He is involved for 36 years in the traditional...
Published 06/14/23
Meredith Panayotopoulos was introduced to and fell in love with all things Greek dancing and culture in college when she met her husband George. She spent 10+ years dancing, directing and co-general directing in San Jose, California. She was blessed to be invited with her dance group to Florina in the summer of 2015, where her love and passion for passing on the beautiful traditions of Greek dance and customs was deepend immensly. From the start she had an affinity for costumes and all of...
Published 06/10/23
Dimitri Carabas is a Composer currently living in Astoria, Queens. He attended The University of Nevada Las Vegas where he earned a Bachelors in Classical Music Composition. There, his writing focused on Post-Romantic and Minimalist styles. With a growing interest in merging Classical writing and Electronics he set his eyes on a Technology degree after his Undergrad. It was in Valencia, Spain where he would earn a Masters in Music Technology, Production, and Innovation from the Berklee...
Published 06/01/23
We sat down with dance giants to record the first installment of our dance etiquette series. Unofficially we like to call this 'don't be a D on the dance floor'. It's an episode where we bring the voices of many to table to discuss dance etiquette and how the culture in the United States may have influenced dance culture. A giant thank you to our panel guests: Stacie Zoumberakis Aris Yortzidis Dimitrios Dallas Joe Graziosi Episode Music: Endasi
Published 08/31/22