By Nick Stamatakis
It was one more wonderful gala at Leonard’s of Great Neck by Panchiaki Korais, one of the NY metro area’s most successful Greek community organizations. A night filled with friends and family from Chios and New York, excellent food, scholarships and awards at over $125,000, and dancing… Ah, you should have been there at the end… The youth of Korais danced an “Ikariotiko” (at a rising pace from “sousta” to fast), showing off their Greek soul, rising out of 4,000 years of history in the Aegean…
In the photos above, Peter Gerazounis, President of “Korais,” awards $30,000 worth of scholarships to 22 distinguished students. More remarkably, his son Chris proved ready to help his dad and Elisavet Tzoumaka with the announcements… Korais is prepared for a seamless transition to the younger generations! Congratulations!
Those who decided to stay to the end were rewarded with a fantastic performance of “Ikariotiko” by “Korais” youth. It started with a few minutes of slow “Ikatiotiki sousta,” then turned to what we all know as “Ikariotikos” and ended up at a frenetic pace!… Watching the young men and women perform this dance with coordination, joy for life, and adherence to tradition, you felt that 4,000 years of Hellenic civilization in the Aegean and the shores of Asia Minor are unfolding before our eyes!! Please watch for yourselves and let me know if you get the same fantastic feeling… As long as our sons and daughters dance in such a Hellenic way our dances – we should not worry whether they will lose their identity…
