Festival of Traditional Dances
Traditional dance events Skopelos, Traditional Dances Festival Diamantis Palaiologos, Skopelos culture, Skopelos Dance Festival, Skopelos annual events, Northern Sporades, Greece
Traditional Dance Events
A group of young people with common values, with love for traditional dance, and a strong desire to honor their teacher have achieved so much. In fact, they managed to realize their dream, to establish an institution and to organize for the sixth consecutive year the “Traditional Dances Festival, Diamantis Palaiologos“.
The festival is organized by the non-profit civil society “Plegma” in order to honor the dance teacher Diamantis Palaiologos.
The beginning was made by a group of young people from the Cultural Association of Glossa. The first festival was organized in 2013 in the town Glossa of Skopelos. Success surpassed all expectations. In 2014, the festival took place in Skopelos Town, where it now happens every year.
The vision of the organizers is to establish the festival as a great festival that will bring together dancers and bands from all over the world. Through this celebration, the objective is to make Skopelos a center of folk culture and tradition.
The “Traditional Dances Festival Diamantis Palaiologos” is a member of the European and the Word Folklore Festival Association. He holds the EFFE LABEL 2017-2018 quality label from the European Festivals Association. The Festival has been awarded the TOURISM Awards 2017 (SILVER Award in the “Festival” category) and the Best City Awards 2016 (SILVER Award in the “Culture” category).
Also, in both Greek and foreign universities, the “Traditional Dances Festival Diamantis Palaiologos” is considered a subject of study and research. It has also been presented at similar conferences.
During the three-day events, Skopelos will host about 600 dancers and 7500 spectators from all over the world. Together, they will unite in music and dance, displaying different traditions and bridging the specificity of each culture. Along with the dance performances, there will be a variety of other activities, such as exhibitions, workshops, seminars, rehearsals open to the public. The dance troops always wear the traditional uniforms of the place they come from.
Each year over 70 volunteers support the festival.