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The Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in Modesto, California hosted the 1996 FDF Symposium over Labor Day weekend, August 30 to September 1. This is the 7th year the FDF has sponsored these dance workshops for their dancers and directors to meet each other in a more relaxed setting , dance traditional dances to a live folk band in a natural setting rather than just at rehearsals and to learn and share material concerning Greece's rich folk cultural heritage. Dancers, directors, judges and philhellenes converged on Modesto(where an Assyrian convention was taking place simultaneously) for a fun-filled weekend. The teaching staff included Dr. Mary Coros from Toronto, Canada, Paul Ginis, director of the Greek American Folklore Society(GAFS) from New York, Nikos Savvidis and Barbara Metallinos from northern California, Vilma Matchette from Seattle , Petur Ileiv, Modesto's Denna Tsatsaronis , Christos Govetas of Boston and the two FDF96 Scholarship to Greece Recipients Paraskevi Contos of Long Beach and Aris Yiortzidis from Downey. Ziyia was with us again this year with clarinetist George Chittenden, santouri Lise Liepman, percussions Dan Auvil, violin Beth Cohen and singing and playing laouto Christos Govetas

Friday night's activities began with a very interesting dance workshop titled "Dancing through the Ages" by Paul Ginis followed with music by Ziyia. Many commented on how Ziyia's breadth and depth of music is incomparable, even among groups in Greece; we are very lucky to have them as our partners in preserving Greek folk culture here in Southern California. Saturday workshops were so numerous there were three classes simultaneously at some points. Mary Coros taught an advanced Cretan workshop that included the participants learning a Rizitiko song from Crete.

Niko Savvdis teaching Pontian dances to Symposium participants in the Modesto Community Center.

At the same time, Petur Iliev taught a movement class for children that was very energetic, upbeat and was enjoyed by the young dancers. Paul Ginis taught an Epirus workshop while a very informative costume workshop was led by Barbara Metallinos and Vilma Matchette. Nikos Savvidis taught beginning and advanced Pontian workshops and Christos Govetas assisted by Denna Tsatsaronis conducted a folk song workshop. I was quite surprised at the material they chose; I had expected simple songs such as Gerakina or Samiotissa, but much more challenging material was chosen. A beautiful polyphonic Epirot tune was taught to the students that would be very appropriate for performing at any type of event; and what¹s more the students enjoyed learning the music.

FDF96 Symposium Dance Instructors and Judges: from back row left, Dimitri Tzotzis, Vilma Matchette, Barbara Metallinos, Yvonne Hunt and Don Hiatt. Front row for left: Renee Cleary, Anne Sirota, Joe Graziosi, and Mary Vouras. Kneeling in front: Niko Savvidis and Ellie Hiatt.

After lunch, Mary Coros taught a staging/choreography workshop that helps directors better prepare and present folk dance and music for presentation on a proscenium stage, cultural arts that were created by villagers for their own entertainment and not necessarily for entertaining audiences. Paraskevi Contos and Aris Yiortzidis did an excellent job of teaching Macedonian dance material they learned in Greece from the Siderokastro, Serres Dance Seminar hosted by Yvonne Hunt. An instrument workshop featuring all the instruments and members of Ziyia was held in the afternoon as well; much interesting information about how instruments are produced and played was presented.

Late Saturday afternoon a Judges Forum was led by Don and Ellie Hiatt. Dancers and directors had the opportunity to ask judges the perennial questions of what constitutes an authentic dance and how dance performances are scored. The session was very healthy and informative. A very extensive costume exhibition was mounted by the Modesto Dance Groups under the direction of Dena Stamos. The FDF Agora was also there with books, records, cassettes, CDs and video resources of Greek folk music, dance and costume.

The Saturday night banquet started out with a welcome from Father John Magoulias and Charlie Kyriacou of the FDF Board of Trustees. Charlie thanked the Modesto community for the warm hospitality they had extended to all the participants that weekend and then introduced the chairperson of the event Irene Simvoulakis and thanked her and her crew for all the work that goes into organizing a successful Symposium. After a delicious chicken dinner, the participants got down to some serious dancing with music by Ziyia.

Symposium Instructors: from left to right, Niko Savvidis, Barabara Metallinos, Mary Coros, Paul Ginis, Vilma Matchette and Aris Yortzidis

Beth Cohen rendered some beautiful island tunes that the crowd enjoyed immensely. All enjoyed the Thracian set with syngathistos, zonaradikos, paidoushka and troirou. Dances from the Macedonian workshops were also requested by the crowd. Syrta and Tsamika were played along with some heavy-duty Epirotika. Needless to say, the music ended too early for everyone.

The next day after a lovely Divine Liturgy service at the church, a Cretan picnic was hosted by the Modesto parish. Lunch was served in the spacious back area of the Church property under the shade trees. FDF Symposium participants and Modesto community members danced to Cretan music provided by Yiannis Volakakis on lyra and Stratis Mastrokalos on laouto. It was a rare treat for FDF dancers and directors to participate with members of a Greek regional community(Cretans) in a natural, village-type event; Modesto can host this type of event because of their large Cretan community and the Cretan musicians who live there. Although the Symposium was officially over on Saturday, the judges began there meeting on Sunday night which was carried through to Monday morning. In addition, the FDF Council met in Modesto on Monday for its own deliberation

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