A Golden Distinction

Cultural Center of the Municipality of Ioannina.

IOV Hellas has undertaken to serve and promote the aims and objectives in our country of the world organization IOV, in accordance with unanimous decisions at the last two general assemblies.  In co-operation with Greek Dance Archives, its members and co-workers in Greece and abroad endeavor continuously to ensure excellent collaboration between cultural sectors for the best possible projection of its actions and events internationally.

The participation of associations and societies from the Greek cultural sector in big events, international festivals and other organizations, contribute to the conservation and projection of the special cultural expressions of different regions of Greece, promoting the country’s cultural image worldwide.

Despite differing opinions concerning the competitive nature of certain cultural meetings, participation and distinctions at international events and festivals of traditional dance and music hold special significance for Greek dance societies. At the same time it constitutes a powerful political act since it displays, promotes and asserts internationally, with different levels of success, a representational cultural image of Greek dance.

A noteworthy and especially significant event was the first place for traditional dance and third place for traditional song won by the same body, the Dance section of the Cultural Center of the Municipality of Ioannina, at the big international dance festival in the Baltic area with the participation of dace teams from all continents.

It is the first time that a single society has won two big distinctions and it has been many decades since a Greek group has come first in a corresponding European or international festival.

The group, representing Greece, giving an example of the high standard of recent years, took part in the most important of the six categories, that of traditional dance as well as in the traditional song section. It is well known that it is one of the few groups in Greece whose dancers are able to perform over 150 songs from all over Greece.

In the countdown at the medal ceremony from the sixth to the first category, the celebrations began when the group won third place for song, the first official international award in its history.

When, arriving at the first category, it was announced that the Greek team had also won first place for dance outdoing many important entries especially from Eastern Europe, the scene was unprecedented.

Hugging, laughing, crying and singing around the flags of Greece and the Municipality of Ioannina,, the dancers reveled in the most wonderful moment of their artistic lives, aware that the thousands of hours of hard work, the hundreds of performances, the pressure and often the sacrifices they had undergone to achieve their high standard were all worth it in the end.

The wonderful evening continued with warm congratulations from the other countries, the organizers and vice president of the world organization IOV, Mr. Rikus Draijer, followed by successive interviews for the media covering the event, and eventually the celebrations spilled out onto the streets of the town where a crowd of local residents watched as the victors sang and danced.

The festival was part of the celebration of the thousandth anniversary of the founding of Lithuania and was one of the most important events in the northern region of this Baltic country of the European Union.

It is included in the Festival calendar  of IOV) and is evaluated for its high standard, as mentioned in the relevant tables of  its charter.

In the six days of the festival about 650 participants presented more than 40 hours of “live” entertainment.

Present at the important event was the team officially representing the Greek embassy in Lithuania headed by Mr P. Karidi and Mr N. Passadeli who had traveled 214 km from the capital, Vilnius, to follow the competition and support the Greek group, a sign of the significance attached by the embassy to this particular cultural collaboration between the two countries.

We take satisfaction, joy and pride in the gold medalists as Greeks, feeling that through their action, offering and experience they are worthy ambassadors of Greek dance and its special local music and dance traditions. They have truly promoted the cultural image of Greece’s groups at large international dance festivals.

IOV Hellas takes great pleasure in this golden achievement and feels completely justified in its choice of the dance group as representatives of Greece.

Warm congratulations to the group’s manager, Mr. I Gkartzonikas, a member of IOV and first vice president of Greek Dance Archives, to the head of the coaching team, Mr N. Nousia, to the secretary, Mr G Mprmpouti, and to all the contributors of the delegation. 
 
More photos..
http://dancearchive.gr/english/issue.php?id=40