DANCE LIKE A GREEK
Traditional Greek Dance And Culture Seminars
EXTRA ACTIVITIES
VISITS TO TRADITIONAL FEASTS-“PANIGYRIA”
If one had to name one thing to identify Ikaría with, it would definitely be its feasts. Either for religious or for social reasons, there are feasts happening almost daily in the summer season in different villages. The locals make their own full-bodied red wine of their vineyards and set the spirits on fire with it. People volunteer to roast or boil meat (of the wild goats of the island), prepare salads and cook potatoes, and then offer them to the visitors, who are either strangers or islanders coming from other villages. Their turn is not to participate in catering for the feast, but to pay a token price as visitors, with the profits used to finance public works or provide financial aid to people in need. Everybody dances the night out. These are the Ikarian "panygiria" (village festivals)!
For a memorable taste of the Ikarian people’s culture and to exhilarate your soul, you need to immerse yourself in at least one of these local feasts. Thus, we are holding our seminars in that period of the year as it offers wide possibilities for visits to "panigyria", in order to experience traditional dancing in its natural context.
COOKING WORKSHOPS
In Greek culture, food is so much more than sustenance – it’s about culture, comfort, family and life itself. Meals are rituals in themselves- time to reconnect with loved ones and nourish the soul as well as the body. For Greeks, food is ceremoniously celebrated and cooking is considered an act of love. Recipes are closely guarded family secrets and traditionally pass from mother to daughter. During the cooking workshops you will feel more than just gaining knife skills but you will feel all that comfort and love we put in our food.
TRADITIONAL GREEK SOURDOUGH STARTER & BREAD MAKING WORKSHOP
There is nothing that makes a house a home more than the smell of freshly baked bread. We come from families where we have always baked our own bread, made with natural sourdough culture (prozymi in Greek). If you would like to experience how a real natural bread tastes like and learn how to prepare your own join us and you will learn this family secret. We will learn the basics of sourdough as well as how to make a sourdough loaf, how to keep a healthy sourdough starter, why the type of flour you use makes a difference to your loaf and finally you will experience the baking in traditional hand built clay oven. Once it will be ready, you will enjoy the freshly baked bread dipped in natural extra virgin oil we are making ourselves.
SOAP MAKING WORKSHOP
Olive oil and Ikaria, are inseparable. There’s hardly anyone in Ikaria who doesn’t own at least a few olive trees. Olive harvesting is an important seasonal job of a typical Ikarian household. Every year from the end of October until February you’ll find many Ikarians out in the fields. By taking advantage of what nature is generously giving us, we will be using this extra virgin olive oil we made last winter to learn how to make our own olive oil soaps with all natural ingredients including essential oils and a variety of organic ingredients for texture. This hands-on workshop is all you need to start hand-crafting your own soaps and avoid synthetic detergents (washing powder, shampoo, liquid soap, etc.) containing harmful chemicals to both consumers and the environment. You will make freshly crafted soap bars to take home and enjoy, or even share with your friends and family.
Find more about our Extra Activities during the seminars.
MUSIC AND DANCE EVENINGS WITH LOCAL MUSICIANS
We will invite local musicians to our camp, for a real private traditional evening, with music and dance!
HIKING AND NATURE WALKS
You will experience the long hiking tradition in Ikaria as well as points of cultural interest. For thousands of years, people have been traversing the myriad mountain paths of Ikaria. In former times these paths or "monopatia", made up a transportation web that connected Ikaria's scattered villages with the people's farming and commercial activities in the mountains and at the sea.