the.com/sirtaki
the dance Greece never had until Hollywood invented it in 1964
means A lively Greek-style line dance that begins slow and accelerates into a fast, breathless tempo, danced shoulder-to-shoulder in a line or circle.
from The name comes from the Greek 'syrtaki,' a diminutive of 'syrtos' — an ancient class of dragging, shuffling folk dances whose name traces to the Greek verb 'syro,' meaning 'to drag' or 'to pull.' The twist is that the sirtaki itself is no ancient tradition: it was choreographed in 1964 for the film 'Zorba the Greek,' reportedly assembled in part because actor Anthony Quinn had injured his foot and couldn't perform faster steps. The dance fused slow 'hasapiko' movements with quickening ones — so the steps borrow from genuinely old Greek forms, but the 'sirtaki' as a whole is a cinematic invention that the world then mistook for folklore.
- fake tradition
- Created for Zorba the Greek, not ancient Greece
- speed trap
- Starts slow, accelerates until dancers collapse
- injured star
- Anthony Quinn faked steps with a broken foot
- name origin
- Means little syrtos, a real folk dance
- linked arms
- Dancers hold shoulders, never hands, in line
zorba the greek — 1964 film featuring the iconic sirtaki dance scene with anthony quinn in crete
athens olympic stadium — 2004 summer olympics opening ceremony prominently featured sirtaki performances