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The Greek Dance Association Sydney IGEHOROS was established 1st October, 2023 by a group of dancers and friends, inspired by Kostas Toulatos and Vasilios Aligiannis.

 

This link between between Greece and Sydney will develop into a strong organisation and association with its main aim and purpose to promote, disseminate and preserve our Hellenic Cultural Heritage in Australia and also share our unique Australian Greek Heritage with the wider Australian Community and Greece.

We are not for profit and will offer many opportunities to all dance groups to participate in many wonderful projects.

Watch this space.




 

Kostas Toulatos

Lead Instructor - GREECE

Director of Traditional Dances

Kostas has joined our team at the Institute of Hellenic Dance and Culture. He is the founder of the Sydney Greece Connection of IGEHOROS Sydney.

Kostas is a member of CID and will also deliver Accreditation to our students of Greek Dance, running and coordinating workshops. Read his biography below.

Kostas
Story

Konstantinos Toulatos was born on April 13, 1967 in Nuremberg, Germany. He is the son of immigrants Stavros Toulatos from Poulata, Kefalonia, and Eleni Didaskalou from Galatades, Pella.

At the age of 5, he moved to Kefalonia and lived there for a short period before settling in Kallithea, Attica. He has two sons, Stavros and Paris.

He graduated from high school and holds a degree from the TEI of Athens as a programmer.

His involvement with Greek traditional dance began in his childhood under renowned teachers such as Nina Sakellariou Driva, Maria Tsalidou, Ritsa Efstathiadou, Sakis Kardaris, and Marina Christofaki.

He completed a three-year course at the Dora Stratou Theater and was a member of the Kallithea Municipality dance group for many years.

He has attended seminars led by recognized instructors from all over Greece.

For more than 34 years, he has taught in elementary and high schools in Kallithea, Piraeus, Perama, Salamina, and in the Holy Metropolis of Piraeus and Faliro.

His love for his native island led him to make frequent trips to Kefalonia to explore its customs, traditions, history, dances, and songs, accompanied by educator Roula Floratou.

He collaborates with folklorist Gerasimos Galanos and has presented his research in many cities across Greece, accompanied by his association "Igihoros Piraeus Kallithea Aigaleo."

In 2022, for the first time in May, he presented the Ionian tradition in Grenoble, France. This year in May, he will present it in Frankfurt, Germany.

Igihoros is naturally involved in dances and songs from all over Greece and always invites renowned instructors to familiarize with customs, traditions, dances, and songs from all regions.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he organized online folklore seminars with dance instructors and folklorists from all over Greece, which received tremendous response. Already, 32 meetings have been held.

He is a member of the International Dance Council CID UNESCO and serves as the president of the Athens Department of the International Dance Council CID UNESCO.

Currently, he teaches at Igihoros, the Association of the Seven Saints of Anargyroi Kamatero, as an external collaborator in the Union of Eptanisians of Greece, in the Pezo Association of Kallithea, in the Greek Dance Department of the Romanian-Greek Educational Center, and in the cultural association ARMONIA with the support of the Romanian Government in the Cultural Union of Perama and in the Research Team of the Folklore Museum of the Municipality of Salamis in the Ralleio Experimental Elementary School.

He is a member of the Panhellenic Association of Elementary Dance Teachers (PEDDICH).

He collaborates with his student Barbara Mantou to create digital animations of the costumes of the Ionian Islands, as well as with Petros Kaminiotis for the creation of Playmogreek, traditional costumes of the Ionian Islands, in collaboration with the Union of Eptanisians of Greece.

For the first time in October 2023, he established a branch of Igihoros in Sydney, Australia, with renowned dance instructor Vasilios Alligianis, spreading the flame of Greek tradition to our compatriots.

Finally, UNESCO awarded him the title of Director of Traditional Dances for the Piraeus and Islands Group, and the INTERNATIONAL ART ACTION awarded him the same title.

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