That's pretty much real - I was friends with a very famous dancer who would pick up tables and chairs in his teeth and dance about. He was in a horrible auto accident in 2001 and we lost him. His sons are carrying on the tradition last I heard.

But the "generic" Greek dance is a line dance - the Syrto/Kalamatiano, Hassapaserviko, Tsamiko, Hassapiko are all "Pan-Hellenic", known all over Greece. But each village has their own dances as well. Hassapiko is probably the most famous from the movie "Zorba the Greek".

"Captain Corelli's Mandolin" is a good example of Greek dancing, filmed on Cephalonia where the book took place and the infamous massacre and the extras were village people doing the dancing. The older villagers in the movie were youngsters during the war and remember what happened.

One of my favorite movies! Love the book too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bISe30elykY

Telly Savalas in this episode of "Combat" here dancing.
Starts around 5 minutes in.

I have seen the dancing with tables in the teeth etc. yelling opa and always wondered if that was what they really did etc.

I never saw the Movie Captain Correlis Mandolin. Some day I'll have to watch it.

I remembered the Telly Dance from watching "Combat" and found it on youtube.

Nice clip - that's the "Zembetiko", a solo man's dance. I'm not qualified to dance that - I don't truly understand it. I think you have to be Greek to really "get" this one.

My Goodness, Zormpas, I haven't thought of Zorba in years.

I wrote a small poem when I was 19...

"When I see the sunrise,
or watch Puffy-cat bathe her kittens,
or hold a hot cup of coffee,
or watch my sweetheart sleep;
Then I am envious of the Greeks.
Their men can dance
when no one's watching."

Damn, thanks for the memories. :)

Gunny John

Curious on this unusual dancing style -- was it originated from ancient Greek, Byzantium? or is it a relatively modern style?

There was an old mamasan who we would pay to walk through our compound and pickup butts. She knew no English other than "you numba ten". But when anyone walked passed and said "Combat", she would smile with those dirty cocained juiced teeth of hers, Vic Morrow...Rick Jason!!!!! The firebase always knew also when it was about to be rocketed, she didn't show up that day. She was our 'early warning system'. :thumbup:

We went to a combined performance put on by several different dancing schools, our Daughter's first public performance Sword Dancing.

The finale was two very highly skilled dancers performing an intricate form of Gypsy Belly Dancing. It was absolutely amazing and mesmerizing.

Gypsy style is a LOT of fun! An endless number of possibilities with those huge skirts. Shawls too.

I'm not sure which style we're discussing at this point in the thread. But IN GENERAL, most of the Greek dances have their origins in Byzantium times. As I recall, Hassapiko is a bit newer, something about Greek butchers. The Black Sea region has its own varieties, as do the islands.

From Wiki:

The hasapiko (Greek: χασάπικο, pronounced [xaˈsapiko]), is a Greek folk dance from Constantinople. The dance originated in the Middle Ages as a battle mime with swords performed by the Greek butchers guild, which adopted it from the military of Byzantine era.[1] In Constantinople during the Byzantine times, it was called in Greek μακελλάρικος χορός (makellarikos horos). Some Greeks, however, reserve the latter term only for the fast version of the dance.

There is an almost unknown Telly Savalas movie called "Escape to Athena" were he also performs this dance. It is also noteworthy for his use on an MP44 in the movie instead of the ubiquitous MP40.

Telly also played in another episode of "Combat" as a French resistance fighter that lost his mind. He carries a G43 which I found interesting.

gypsy in ww2 meeting germans...
 

http://www.ww2incolor.com/d/340426-1...e_Jack_Sparrow


Gypsies (or Romani, as they call themselves, the Gypsy word for "men") ...

and this is NOT jack sparrow, but is spooky close....

that romani sure looks like johnny depp.

zorba,

in college i took ballet and gymnastics and continued to earn a brown belt in karate at night. talk about crossing some cultural time zones 6-7 times a week. wow.

glad you join the forum and got hooked on lugers.