“Sirtaki”
Greek Popular Dance
Sirtaki or syrtaki (Greek: συρτάκι) is a popular dance of Greek origin, choreographed by Giorgos Provias for the 1964 film Zorba the Greek. It is a recent Greek folkdance, and a mixture of the slow and fast versions of the hasapiko dance. The dance and the accompanying music by Míkis Theodorakis are also called Zorbá’s dance, Zorbas, or “the dance of Zorba”.
The name sirtáki comes from the Greek word syrtos – from σύρω (τον χορό), which means “drag (the dance)” -, a common name for a group of traditional Cretan dances of so-called “dragging” style, as opposed to pidikhtos (πηδηχτός), a hopping or leaping style. Despite that, sirtaki incorporates both syrtos (in its slower part) and pidikhtós (in its faster part) elements.
