Kalamatianos

The Kalamatianós (Greek: Καλαματιανός, pronounced [kalamati̯aˈnos̠]) is one of the best-known dances of Greece. It is a popular Greek folk dance throughout Greece, Cyprus and internationally and is often performed at many social gatherings worldwide. As is the case with most Greek folk dances, it is danced in chain with a counterclockwise rotation, the dancers holding hands.¶

It is a joyous and festive dance; its musical beat is 78, subdivided into of three parts of 3+2+2 beats, corresponding to 3 steps per bar. There are 12 steps in the dance corresponding to 4 bars of music. These steps include 10 steps counterclockwise ("forward") followed by 2 steps clockwise ("backwards"). Depending on the occasion and the dancers' proficiency, certain steps may be taken as jumps or squats. The lead dancer usually holds the second dancer by a handkerchief, thus allowing them to perform more elaborate steps and acrobatics. The steps of the Kalamatianós are the same as those of the Syrtos, but the latter is slower and more stately, its beat being an even 44.¶

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Kalamatianos”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.¶

Kalamatianos is Greek folk dance, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition.¹¶

The source record links this tradition to 2 external registers, which can be verified through the citation.¹¶