Dora Stratou Dance Theatre

Today I would like to present you a very special living museum of Greek dance. The "Dora Stratou" Dance Theatre in Athen. It was founded by the Greek dancer, singer and choreographer Dora Stratou in 1953. Today it is the only one theatre in the world which presents traditional dances from about 80 countries of Greek and it owns the biggest collection of national costumes. 

The "Dora Stratou" Dance Theatre is a group of more than 75 dancers and musicians. You can visit their unique open-air shows every evening between May and September at 9.30p.m. (Saturday and Sunday at 8.30p.m.).

Once Dora Stratou had one big aim. She wanted to save the traditional Greek culture and dance as much as possible. So she collected clothes and accessories from all the different countries of Greece for more than 30 years. Today this collaboration is very valuable. Same of the costumes are not able to copy again because of missing craftsmanship knowledge. Also she invited groups from various villages and towns to show her and her company their music and dances. All of these meetings were filmed, so today they have a great library of original dance material. Until today the theatre is not working together with professional choreographers. For the theatre it is very important to copy all the dances exactly. To learn all dances just by imitation is very hard work. The dancers practice every evening before their shows. But in the morning they have to work in different occupations.

In the summer you can watch the results of their hard work every day. In the winter the company makes guest spots in different countries in and out of Europe. Next to the open-air theater which reminds you of a round village square you can find a closed hall for workshops and lectures. These were given by the dancers and music experts during the whole year and are open for everybody who is interested in Greek dance. Also the theater organized evening's dancing's together with dance groups from different Greek cities and invite them to present their traditions. Furthermore the theatre has a big library with videos, sounds and clothes. And because all of these things are weared and moved every evening they really live.