ABOUT US

Dance like a Greek was founded by two friends, Chryssa and Dimitra, who are passionate about dance, tradition and culture.

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Chryssa Foti comes from Epirus, a region on the north-west part of Greece with a long dance tradition. She studied electrical engineering in Thessaloniki, where she joined the traditional dances team HOFETH for a few years. She has spent the last few years abroad, working and volunteering in Italy, Switzerland and Spain. In every place, passionate about Greek tradition, she was excited to share her experience on it with her international friends and she held many small workshops to this end.

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Dimitra Valanidou grew up in Thessaloniki but her origins are from Thrace and Thessaly. From an early age, she was exposed to the Greek tradition and Greek traditional dances in an experiential way by her parents as well as her grandparents. She studied Architecture in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki but dance has been always a cornerstone in her life. Since her young age, she was following intensive pre-professional ballet and contemporary dance program but her interest in different types of dance made her join also a traditional dancing team whilst in university, in order to explore and learn more about Greek tradition and dances from all over Greece. 

Chryssa and Dimitra crossed paths first time in this traditional dancing team, based on volunteer work, where they have been learning and exploring Greek culture and dance together. They have been attending seminars in different parts of Greece to learn from specialised teachers on each region as well as researching on Greek tradition (dances, songs, traditional costumes) by interviewing old people and folklorists. All these recordings are kept in the team’s archive. The culmination of the team's efforts and activities was the dance festival that was being held once a year and was organised by the team members. The aim of this celebration was to highlight and promote the Greek tradition from each region of the country. Every day was devoted to a geographical area of Greece, from which cultural groups and local orchestras are invited to present, authentic songs, dances and customs of their region. After this experience, they nowadays seek the opportunity to share their knowledge and passion about Greek culture.