Traditional Greek dancing with traditional fluffy white Man Skirts.
Traditional Greek dance consists of men in fluffy white skirts spinning and jumping. And it’s great!
On our last day in beautiful Nafplio, Greece, our Greece teacher travel tour nestled into a golden-lit family restaurant for a traditional dance performance. Hoo boy!
While the two female Greek dancers maintained a stately dignity throughout, the male dancer duo went wild. Did the fluffy white skirts bring out their inner male dancing beasts???
UP went the arms of the two male dancers, swirling and intertwining as they hurled forward then backward, then around in a frenzied circle, dragging the two women hither and thither with ecstatic abandon.
“Oh my,” the Greek ladies seemed to be gasping through their frozen half smiles.
Wild Greek dancing means the Man Skirts lift to show Man Tights!
“Ahhh!” a fellow Boston teacher squealed, “look at that man move!”
Indeed, I looked up just in time to see the more rotund of the two men leaping into the air, landing into a half split, flipping upside-down, then lifting his smaller counterpart aloft.
“WOOSH!” went the fluffy white Man Skirts as they flipped upward to expose an eyeful of white Man Tights. (“Mights?”)
“Eeeiii!” screamed my Boston coworker.
“Tee hee!” I replied.
As the dancers thumped towards us with their pom-pom-toed booties and yanked us onto the dance floor for the next hour, I suddenly got really happy. Sometimes I forget: I love to dance, and the wilder the dance is, the happier I get!
As I pranced around, my mind flashed through memories of other parts of the world, and this question surfaced: Why are Americans so afraid of dance?
A "dancing intermission" during a school event in Ghana, West Africa.
Have you ever noticed that the hips of Americans are basically cemented into immobility due to a lifetime lack of dancing?
Travel down to Latin America and people can gyrate on command, but at a recent Boston Zumba class I attended, the instructor was forced to devote a third of the class just to practicing rump circles. “Creeeaak!” groaned our rigid hip tendons. We just couldn’t move them, because we rarely do.
What a waste of our bodies to keep them immobile, when they really just want to MOVE!
We love your style and flair, traditional Greek dancers!
And what about dance in schools? Dancing brings people joy (once we get over any imbedded cultural fear), so why keep that joy from children?
In the small town in Ghana, West Africa where I taught for three months, all school events had a dancing intermission: a mid-way break where music poured forth and both students and teachers rocked out!
I thank the Greek dancers in their skirts for helping me wonder: Would the students in the Boston school where I teach enjoy having a dancing intermission every now and then???
Want to read another article about a country where men wear a fashion that Americans see as female? Click here to read about naked man-belly shirts in China!
That’s cool. The men get to bring out their dancing side of their personality. I’m also really happy that these men decide to dance despite the costumes they have to wear, because now a days you don’t see many men out there dancing.
Can I join the dance? This reminds me of the Irish dance. Why are the men wearing skirts.
I love the shoes that those men are wearing they look like little pom pom.
Where in the world may I get those pom-pom covered shoes?
Those shoes are so cute and stylish! 
O____________
(______________) <—–Does this look like the shoes the guys were wearing?
HAH!!!!!
You are right that picture you drew really looks like the shoes the men are wearing. AHAHAHAHA!
Looks and sounds like Tai Chi. Also sounds a bit like the Irish skirts and their dance except not much green.
I think it’s funny that the men’s skirt is shorter than the women’s skirt.
This is actally really werid. I mean yeah, people dance but man skirts are horrible! I feel that man should not wear skirts. Also I feel that men should be forbidden to wear any sort of tights. Thats just too gross. But this is just my thought. This kind of reminds me of Scottish dancers and the way they wear kilts. We in America do dance, but we don’t wear much skirts. Have you heard of America’s Best Dance Crew? Now that is a show you should watch! They have amazing dances and amazing people on the show!
That’s crazy!!! I’ve noticed, that in many cultures, when it comes to dancing, there is always a dominant gender who leads the dance. A good comparison is ballroom dancing in America because the man leads and the women follows, and in some places in Africa, there are dances where there are men in the background and the women are in the front, dancing away. It’s also not really surprising that the men wear fluffy white skirts. This doesn’t really shock me because if you look at paintings drawn of Greek gods and goddesses you would notice that even the men would be wearing long dresses or “tunics”. There is a picture of the god Apollo where he is wearing a short, white tunic as he holds his lyre. Also, I think the women knew what was coming.
I just think that they didn’t think the men would get THAT crazy. Hah!
The dancing and costumes look interesting.
Really interesting post L. But seriously, I just REALLY couldn’t do it. There’s just some lines I wouldn’t cross. These guys are brave!
Hehe
It would be a little weird to see men dancing like that in America. I bet they were really good dancers. I would also think that the ladies would wear the men skirts, since they are so short.
Men in skirts still can dance better than me. That’s upsetting. I can’t dance for my life.
Hah!!!
I bet seeing these guys dance makes you see dancing in a new perspective!
I want to see the men in real life and have them dance. I really don’t understand why men don’t dance in America.
At least North Americans can experience different kinds of dance while travelling!
I think that those skirts don’t look so bad. They look very manly. I would wear them if I had a chance. I like watching people dance. It is very peaceful and very cool. I think the reason why everyone is afraid is that they are afraid that people will judge their dancing.
I definitely agree with you that dancing brings people together. Were any of the dance moves simliar to American dancing?
I have only one question. Are the skirts required?
Many cultures have traditional forms of dress that go with their traditional forms of dance!
Hahahahaha! Men wearing skirts! That’s classic!
Why do the men have to wear skirts? I also like their funny shoes. I wonder why dancing in other countries are so different from dancing in America? I think Americans should dance more often, just like other countries.
This is a very interesting article. Why do they have to wear skirts? I mean, I think that’s is just weird and interesting. I dig the shoes though! I would love to shuffle around in those shoes around my house! I wonder if the guys are embarrassed for doing “half-splits” and when their skirt poofs up and you can see their “mights”.