Newspaper Page Text
Page Ten
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, May 26, 1972
These teenagers enthusiastically demonstrated
the “Sytirka” or Sailors’ Dance at Or VeShaloin
Synagogue
Isaac Franco “solos” to prove his expertise and
agility at the Greek dances.
Johnny Karras, center, flanked by four of in
structors representing the Atlanta Greek Swin
gers.
Greeks Have
Or VeShalom
Ry Vida Goldgar
If passers-by thought music
coming from the recreation hall
of Or VeShalom Synagogue on
Thursday evenings this spring
was somewhat un-Jewish, they
were right.
If they suspected the lively
tunes had a distinctly Greek
sound, they were right again.
And had they looked in to see
what was going on, they may
have been surprised to see large
numbers of Sephardic Jews
clapping, dipping and weaving
to such exotic dances as the
“Kalamatiano" (named for a
Greek city), the “Sytirka” (also
called the Sailor’s Dance) and
even “Ntirlanda,” a dance often
taught Greek school children to
improve their concentration and
memory.
A visitor who tried only brief
ly (and clumsily) to join the
circling dancers quickly retired
to the sidelines to gather back
ground on the program, but kept
toe-tapping accompaniment.
When Or VeShalom members
Louise and Aaron Sinkoe were
planning a party to celebrate
their son’s Bar Mitzva, they in
vited some of their Greek
friends to join in their simcha.
They also engaged Greek musi
cians for the event. When
dancing began and the Greek
guests took the floor for some
Greek folk-dancing, many
Sephardim eagerly joined in . . .
or tried to. The dances were
more difficult than they first
appeared to be. Mrs. Sinkoe
says musingly, "There they were
—300 people who love music
but couldn’t dance.”
Determined to learn the Greek
way, some guests later ap
proached Mrs. Sinkoe about les-
Choreography for run;
's Sephardim Take It Up
sons. This eventually led to con
tact with Johnny Karras and
the Atlanta Greek Swingers.
Karras says, “We devote our
selves to the ‘three P’s’ of Greek
folk culture—Preservation, Per
petuation and Practice. It’s our
pleasure,” he added, “to pass on
this phase of our heritage—the
folk dances—to anyone interest
ed.”
Perhaps a dozen members of
the Greek Orthodox Church in
Atlanta, none of whom is a pro
fessional dancer, spen^t half-a-
dozen Thursday evenings at Or
VeShalom teaching members
their dances.
When this writer attended
what was to have been the final
session, it was impossible to tell
teachers from pupils ... so suc
cessful had the lessons been.
That night there were almost
60 dancers and a dozen or so
sideline observers. According to
A1 Milt, an enthusiast of the
program, that was one of the
smaller crowds.” You don’t see
any ‘generation gap’ here,” he
pointed out. He was cor
rect . . . elementary school chil-
■ dren, teenagers, young marrieds,
parents, grandparents and possi
bly even a great-grandparent or
two joined in.
Isaac Franco, stalwart of the
congregation and a member of
one of the congregation’s found
ing families, danced with such
vigor, ease and grace as would
put men half his age to shame.
Other regulars include the
wives of both Rabbi S. R. Ichay,
present spiritual leader and Rabbi
Joseph Cohen, emeritus rabbi.
During a coke break, Karras
discussed the philosophy of his
group . . . “We have no dues
or fees . . . we're all presidents
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with an equal share in plans
and decisions.” Then he added,
“Greek culture is something we
should give away ... it is an
art and we don’t sell it, we
share it.” A little later, he de
monstrated just what he meant
by that statement.
In appreciation of the lessons,
a sum had been collected from
the “regulars” as a donation to
the Greek Orthodox Church,
since the Greek Swingers had
insisted they would accept no
pay. But when Morris Piha pre
sented the check to Karras for
his church, the group’s philos
ophy of sharing was reiterated.
“Half of this sum will go to our
church building fund,” said Kar
ras, "but half will go to the
building fund of Or VeShalom.”
This generous gesture may
stem in part from the close ties
that have existed between At
lanta’s Greek community and its
Sephardic Jews long before the
dancing lessons began.
Many early Sephardic settlers
came from the Isle of Rhodes,
an Aegean island which was
originally and is presently under
the banner of Greece, though
during interim periods it was
ruled by Turkey and by Italy.
Sephardim, arriving in Atlan
ta in the early 1900’s, gravitated
to the same residential areas
as Atlanta’s Greek community,
feeling at home with the fami
liar customs. Their children
established friendships that re
mained over the years.
Such friendships caused the
Sinkoes to include Greek en
tertainment at their Bar Mitzva.
The long-standing closeness of
the two groups may explain why
synagogue members were so en
thusiastic about the dance pro
gram that at what was to have
been the final session, crys of
“No, let’s not stop,” and “We
want to go on," were so insis
tent that new plans were made.
The Or VeShalom Greek
Dancers will continue to meet
on the first Wednesday of each
month, for further enjoyment
of their new talent.
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