Cherry Hill, NJ – Mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, the generations came together this evening to dance and celebrate forty years of the Hellenic Heritage Dance Group.
On Saturday evening, at the Danielle Kousoulis Greek Culture Center, the Greek community of St. Thomas gathered watch this annual performances, which was made extra special by the participants of it’s former members, now mothers and fathers of this next generation.
In 1974 the dream of Mrs. Klio Kokolis, was to cultivate, perpetuate and preserve Greek heritage and culture through the art of Greek folk dancing. The dream came to fruition, when she began her first dance practice in the cultural center. Twenty young people from the church were members of the first Hellenic Heritage Dance group. Since then, Mrs. Kokolis has taught hundreds and hundreds of young people the art of Greek folk dancing.
The Hellenic Heritage group has performed at celebrations, colleges, church festivals, workshops, competitions, and other events culminating with performances for Patriarch Bartholomew in China and at the Epiphany in Tarpon Springs, Florida.
The evening kicked off with Mrs. Kokolis addressing the crowd and recognizing members from the organization. Following prayer, The dance group performed a series of dances from around Greece before being joined by past members of the group.
The dances were each introduced with a history by Mrs. Kokolis. Each outfit was created to it’s original condition, while each dance is taught Kokolis, who learns the authentic dances from The teachers and dancers of Dora Stratiou, Vagelis Dimoudis and his wife Natassa former top dancers and teachers of Dora Stratou.