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Ballos
The Ballos is one of the best known island dances in Greece. The melody of a ballos is generally joyous and lyrical which is typical of the music of the Aegean.
This is a dance for couples with all the elements of courtship; attraction, flirtation, display of masculine prowess and feminine virtue, pursuit,and rejection followed by eventual capture and surrender. Its origin comes from the island culture. Men couldn't approach women easily, so they created this dance in order to "flirt" with them.
There are various forms of the ballos around the islands. The simplest is where a single couple goes through a series of spontaneous figures. In another version many couples dance simultaneously as if alone on the dance floor. |
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Hassapia
The Hassapia dance has been dated back to Hellenistic times, before the time of Alexander the Great whose soldiers brought it to Macedonia. It is a warrior's dance in which the movements represent the noiseless approach on the enemy camp, the encounter, the fight, and the victory. This dance is done in a circle using a shoulder hold. |
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