1994 Performing Tour to Greece

The following article was published in "The Hellenic Journal"
 and the "Oli Mazi" newspaper of the Greek Orthodox Folk Dance Festival.

MARIN'S MINOAN DANCERS PERFORM IN GREECE
By Cathie Banks

        The Greek word "synharitiria" or congratulations still rings in the ears of
nine members of the Minoan Dancers of Marin County who performed
professionally in Greece this summer.

        The group, headed by Effie and Vasilis Fourakis of Corte Madera, dance
director/choreographers, left separately and met up in Athens. For the next
week Minoans Sophia Avlonitis, Nicole Bertolina, Katerina, Maria and Vasilis
Capetanos, Ted Simos, John Tamaresis, and four year old Achilleas Fourakis
traveled together and wowed standing room only audiences in Athens and Crete.

        Their dance odyssey began on July 22 for a sold out performance at Plateia
Gerakas, located in an Athens suburb. This site was chosen by Vasilis and
Effie because it is near the homes of many of their relatives in Greece.

         "My relatives," Effie explained, "have known for years that I dance and teach
Greek folk dances through letters and pictures we've sent. Even so, they were
astounded by the authenticity of our dances and costumes and our
professionalism. My Uncle Yiorgos had tears in his eyes when he expressed
thanks to us for keeping alive our Greek culture and folk dances."

        Wearing costumes from Thrace, the Minoans presented twelve dances from the
regions of Epiros, Thessaly, and Thrace. Between dance suites, the lights were
dimmed and slides taken during past performances were shown to give the
dancers a reprieve from the 110 degree heat. During a brief intermission and
costume change, children of the local elementary school performed dances from
Pontos.

        The second half of the Athens performance started with the Horos tou
Zallongou. This dance depicts the women of the village of Zallogos who, rather
than be captured during the War for Independence, threw themselves and their
children to their death over a cliff. The Minoan women captured the feeling of
this historic event as they danced past the hushed crowd to their "death."
Four-year-old Achilleas Fourakis danced the part of the doomed child, who in
his mother's arms, is the last to "die."

        With compliments of relatives and strangers alike ringing in their ears, a few
days later the group sailed to historic and picturesque Hania, Crete and then
drove to the Minerva Hotel in Agia Marina near Hania, which had a beautiful
beach to enjoy. That evening they attended a performance of Greek folk dances
at the Firkas Theater in Hania presented by The Cretan Dancers, whose dance
director Yiannis Agiasmenakis had arranged a joint performance with the
Minoans on Thursday evening, July 28 in the same theater. Effie and Vasilis
needed to see the repertory of The Cretan Dancers in order to decide how both
groups' repertoires would fit together. The program was agreed upon and an ad
taken out in the newspaper of Hania.

        For the joint performance the Firkas Theater was filled beyond capacity. The
performance began with a presentation of Cretan dances by Yiannis's group. The
first dance by the Minoans was the Horos tou Zallongou. The lighting at the
theater made the dance very dramatic and again Achilleas, the "doomed" child,
stole the show. Effie recalled, "After the dance we lowered Achilleas from the
stage, where he started taking pictures with our automatic camera of our
Thessaly suite. As a mother with no baby sitter along, this was comforting to
me for he had to take the photos near the stage where I could watch him and he
could not wander off. He shot an entire roll of film during the first dance
and again stole the show because many in the audience, rather than watching
the stage, were watching Achilleas in his little Cretan costume take pictures
of the dancers!"

        During intermission the Cretan dancers offered the audience a sampling of
Cretan raki or "tsikoudia" and then presented Cretan dances with such style
and precision that the audience, and the Minoans, applauded wildly. The
Minoans then took the stage to present five dances from Thrace and, again, the
audience went wild. Both groups took to the stage during the final
presentations of Hassapikos and Hassaposervikos and then everybody, including
the audience, danced the Cretan Syganos dance to end the evening. Mr.
Agiasmenakis expressed his appreciation by taking the entire group to dinner
at a seafood taverna on the beach.

        The following evening the Minoans and the group from Hania boarded a KTEL bus
and were taken to perform at the annual Rethymnon Wine Festival. The Minoans
presented dances from Thrace and Cretan dances were performed by The Cretan
Dancers from Hania and by a group from Rethymnon.

        Effie said, "After the performances we were served a souvlaki dinner complete
with Cretan cheese and wine. The filoxenia extended to us by the coordinators
of the festival was overflowing as was the wine. As we were leaving, they
presented us with souvenir posters, wine flasks, and bottles of Cretan wine."

        The trip took germ in Effie and Vasilis' minds in 1992 during a visit to
Crete. When they presented the idea to the Minoans, everyone was enthusiastic
about it and over the next two years, many letters and phone calls crossed the
Atlantic to arrange the tour. Vasilis Glimidakis, of Agia Marina and San
Francisco, was especially helpful and made all the arrangements in Crete.

        Effie said, "For me, as difficult as arranging the performances was, it was
well worth it. We were able to fulfill our dream of presenting our efforts in
the country of their origin. And we were appreciated."

        The travelers returned in August just in time to stage their annual fund
raiser picnic at the Shadows for financing their annual appearance at the
Greek Orthodox Folk Dance Festival, which this year will be in Ontario,
California. At the Shadows they showed a video of the Greek Tour, which
everyone enjoyed.

        In September the Minoans again began their rehearsals, held in the Fellowship
Center of the Nativity of Christ Greek Orthodox Church in Ignacio, Marin. This
year 45 young people are in the three groups, Little Minoans, for dancers 6 to
12; Minoans I, for junior high and high schoolers, and Minoans II, for college
students and above. So far this fall they have performed at the Santa Cruz
Greek Festival, the Tenth Anniversary luncheon for Father Constantine
Efstathiu at Nativity of Christ Greek Orthodox Church, and St. Rita's Catholic
Church in Fairfax for their Greek Night.

        Coming up are January auditions for the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival in
June for which the Minoans have been selected to dance for the past three
years, the Greek Orthodox Folk Dance Festival during President's Day Weekend
in February and the four-day Ethnic Dance Festival for children at Fort Mason
in March. In between these larger performances, the Minoans entertain senior
citizens, church and other groups, keeping Greek culture and folk dancing
alive while at the same time helping the young Minoans acquire poise, grace,
and self-confidence. Truly, this is a group for which "synharitiria" fits the
bill.

Click below to see photos of the Minoans'
1994 Performing Tour to Greece

1994-Greece-Gerakas flier
1994-Greece-Gerakas-rehearsal
1994-Greece-Gerakas-Horos tou Zallongou
1994-Greece-Gerakas-Issios
1994-Greece-Gerakas-Island Syrtos
1994-Greece-ferry to Crete
1994-Greece-at taverna
1994-Greece-Tired Ted?
1994-Greece-Firkas-Horos tou Zallongou
1994-Greece-Firkas-Zonaradikos
1994-Greece-Firkas-group pose
1994-Greece-Firkas-Fourakis family
1994-Greece-Rethymnon-Zonaradikos
1994-Greece-Karoti-John
1994-Greece-Karoti-Ted
1994-Greece-Karoti-Effie

Please E- your comments to Vasilis & Effie Fourakis

Created by Pete Gikkas