George Koultourides and his twin, Vasili, grew up performing traditional Greek dance with their family at church, weddings and other celebrations. During their freshman year at Indiana University, they weren’t able to find a designated group of students who shared this passion.
So, the Koultourides brothers decided to take action.
In 2024, the twins’ sophomore year, the Hellenic Dance Troupe became an official IU student organization under the advising of Franklin Hess, who oversees the Modern Greek Program.
Though it started off with six members — the Koultourides brothers, IU juniors Alex Emmanoilidis, Constantine Stefanidis, Anastasia Earth and Joanna Kouros — the troupe has expanded to have about 15 active dancers. The original six now serve as board members for the organization and are all second-generation Greek Americans.
Within the past year, the troupe has furthered its outreach to gain more members.
“I think more people know who we are,” Emmanoilidis said. “We just kind of just came out of the blue.”
The American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association is the oldest American Greek heritage grassroots membership organization. Next year, the troupe said it will perform at AHEPA’s grand convention in Chicago, the date of which is still to be determined. Earth said many people will attend the convention and it will be an important event for the Hellenic Dance Troupe.
The Hellenic Dance Troupe’s mission is to learn and explore traditional Greek dance from all regions and share its culture and traditions with everyone.
George said this love of sharing traditional Greek dance was his main motivator for forming the troupe.
“I think people enjoy watching this type of stuff,” he said. “And they also want to learn about stuff.”
Each region of Greece has its own type of dancing style, and the troupe tries to cover different types to share their entire country’s dance culture, not just the specific region where their families are from.
The troupe’s next performance is Nov. 14 at 6 p.m. the IU World’s Fare, which will feature over 17 cultural dance associations.
Their performance will be about eight minutes long, featuring traditional Greek dances of Ikariótikos and Tsamikos. With both being living dances, a dance still performed in its place of origin, the group decided these would have the highest engagement, since they are time-honored traditions that audiences may recognize.
“I think we can stay true to our culture and our tradition, while also picking more exciting dances,” Stefanidis said.
Ikariótikos, originates on the island of Ikaria, a Greek island north of the Aegean Sea. It is an open circle dance, where dancers move in a counterclockwise direction, connected by their intertwined arms on each other’s shoulders – leading the dance to become an energetic and lively expression of Greek culture.
Tsamikos, on the other hand, is commonly danced in central Greece. Tsamikos originally is danced almost exclusively by men, but, as time went on, the danced adapted. Today, the dance is popular at weddings, festivals and celebrations. Tsamikos follows a pattern of 10 steps, featuring some of the tricks that catch attention.
“Masculine roles are very big in Greek dancing — traditional roles,” George said. “So, the men you’ll see do more exaggerated steps. All the women do more gentle steps, less exaggerated. And then some dances specifically have those gender roles for the way that they’re supposed to be lined up.”
For more information on the Hellenic Dance Troupe, meeting dates and performances, check the troupe’s social media, BeInvolved or email George at gkoultou@iu.edu. The troupe is always looking for new members.
“We’re very adamant about how this is for everyone,” George said. “No matter their background.”
