Orpheus Hellenic Folklore Society

Dances from Macedonia - Northern part of Greece, with dance instructor Yanni Konstantinou (March 19-21)

We are excited to welcome from Greece renown dance instructor and researcher Yannis Konstantinou. Yannis will conduct a series of workshops with dances from Macedonia, the northern part of Greece.

Everyone is welcome to attend the workshop sessions. For non-Orpheus members: $20 per session.

Schedule of sessions:

Thursday, March 19

7:30-9:00 p.m. (Niles)

Friday, March 20

6:30-9:00 p.m. (Niles)

Saturday, March 21

10:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. (Glenview)

03:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. (Glenview)

Niles - St. Isaac Church, 8149 Golf Rd, Niles, IL

Glenview - New Church Gym, 74 Park Drive, Glenview, IL

For more information about the workshops and Yannis Konstantinou visit www.ohfs.org

The workshops are organized in collaboration with the Spring Balkan Festival which will take place March 26-29. For more information about the festival which celebrates its 50th anniversary click here.

We hope that you can join us. Following is a bio of Yannis Konstantinou.

Thank you,

Orpheus Hellenic Folklore Society

Yannis Konstantinou has been dancing from childhood alongside his parents, family and friends in the villages of Florina located in northwest Greece, and to this day his personal teaching and dancing style conveys this lifelong experience. He has a deep passion and commitment to preserving and sharing the local traditions and culture of the various ethnic groups living in Greek Macedonia, and has studied the cross-border influences of neighboring communities on dance and music along the northern border of Greece. Yannis has organized and participated in many cross-border music and dance seminars and performance, and organized a Balkan Children's Dance Festival, the first ever in Greece, where traditional dance groups from across the Balkans performed side-by-side in Athens. In the US, he has been a guest teacher at Ahmet Luleci's World Camp and the Balkanske Igre Spring Festival to which he has been invited for the 50th Anniversary celebration in 2015.

Yannis is an internationally recognized teacher and researcher of traditional dance, participating in numerous seminars in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America as well as organizing traditional dance seminars annually in Prespes, Greece. He has served as judge at the Greek Orthodox Folk Dance and Choral Festival held annually in California on three occasions and has shared his knowledge and philosophy about traditional dance with many Greek-American/Canadian dance groups over the years.

Yannis is the founder and president of the highly respected dance association "Lygkistes" which has performed extensively throughout Europe including at the prestigious LLangollen International Dance competition where the group took second place from 120 competitors. Additionally Yannis serves as artistic director and instructor for Lykeion Ellinidon Florinas, teaching over 200 dancers of all ages weekly, and regularly teaches the cultural associations of villages of Florina and Kozani. In 2013-2014, Yannis organized a series of weekend seminars with teachers like himself, who all their lives have been immersed in the culture, traditions, music and dance of their respective regions, for leaders of Greek dance associations interested in understanding the cultural, social and historical context of the dances that they are performing.

Yannis is married to Hra Koloni, who teaches dance and manages the family-run hotel in Prespes. They live in Florina with their two children, Xenia and Simos, 18 and 12 years old, who also share the family passion for traditional dance and music.