The integration of traditional Greek dance in public schools¹

1. The term ‘public schools’ means those schools in which tuition is provided free of charge by the Greek government, in contrast to private schools in which tuition is provided by the attending students. In the beginning of the twentieth century, when Greek traditional dance was incorporated in school activities, public schools consisted of the following: a compulsory four-year primary school, and optional three-year middle school and optional four-year high school. Today, public schools consist of a compulsory six-year primary and three-year middle school and an optional three-year high school (Gartzonika-Kotsika 2009).

Abstract

This paper researches the statutory educational regulations used as a foundation to introduce traditional Greek dance in the school curriculum and which transformed it into a taught subject with connections to the ideological-political and social conditions prevalent in Greece at the time. It particularly concerns the connection between the aims and content of this practical subject matter with the educational aspirations of cultivating a Greek national identity during the earliest introduction of dance in school activities (1914 (1899)–1929). The selection of folk dance as a representative component of Greek culture, the equation of particular dances with the substance of national identity (as ‘national dances’) and the political goal of creating a unified cultural identity through public education formed the basis on which traditional Greek dance was included in school activities at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Keywords:

• traditional Greek dance
• dance education
• public school education
• Greek national identity
• Greek educational history

Notes

1. The term ‘public schools’ means those schools in which tuition is provided free of charge by the Greek government, in contrast to private schools in which tuition is provided by the attending students. In the beginning of the twentieth century, when Greek traditional dance was incorporated in school activities, public schools consisted of the following: a compulsory four-year primary school, and optional three-year middle school and optional four-year high school. Today, public schools consist of a compulsory six-year primary and three-year middle school and an optional three-year high school (Gartzonika-Kotsika 2009).

2. Concerning Nationalism, see Anderson (1983), Barth (1969), Gellner (1983) and Lekkas (2006).

3. For the analysis of the resources, the following essays were used: Berelson (1971), Holsti (1969), Cohen and Manion (1994) and Duverger (1990).

4. Essays concerning traditional Greek dance, focusing on the interweaving of local and national within the context of creating national or local identity: Zografou (2008) and Xeilari (2009).

5. A representational example of this procedure is the Tsakonikos dance, see Heilari’s essay (2009).

6. Excerpts of Mme Senié’s letters were published by Raftis (2004), in the magazine ‘Tradition and Art’, 73, 11–22.

7. Lyceum Club of Greek Women, which was founded in 1911 and was a voluntary women’s only organization, was the first organization that gave priority to ‘… the preservation of Greek customs and traditions, dances, songs, national costumes etc.’ (Mpompou-Protopapa 1993, 19: 25–6).

8. Antzaka reports the possible date of publication as 1905. Antzaka-Vei (2000).

9. The term ‘national narrative’ is used here to describe a wider subject matter including historiography, folklore, geography, school dances and others as factors of national history.