When considering sports which encapsulate the interests of Greeks, and more specifically Greek-Australians- world football, tennis, water-polo and even Aussie rules come to mind.
Very rarely one would consider Rugby.
Recently, the MANASIS School of Greek Dance and Culture was invited to represent the Greek-Australian community for the third consecutive time, at the “Multicultural Round” as part of a cultural diversity initiative in the National Ruby League (NRL); The Melbourne Storm vs. Gold Coast Titans.
Dressed in traditional costumes, Junior and Intermediate dancers from MANASIS provided pre-game entertainment on Gosch’s Paddock in the early afternoon, performing folk dances from various regions of Greece, followed by their signature “all-in” Zorba dance. Needless to say, attendees, passers-by and other performers all joined in, dancing their own types of cultural dance, to the music and rhythm of Greece’s most iconic song and dance.
“Pacific islanders, Cook Islanders, Maoris, Indians and others… all dancing together… harmoniously… to Zorba!” After the ‘fun’ was over, it was time to get down to ‘serious business’, where the MANASIS dancers entered AAMI Park, and danced in the middle of the stadium as the Melbourne Storm stormed onto the ground! The most famous Greek dance of all, the Zorba (who’s actual ‘dance’ is Sirtaki, and Zorba referring moreso to the song), bellowed yet again throughout AAMI Park.
Our “Foustaneloforoi”, “Amalies” and array of other spectacular costumes of course stole the show with high speed, high energy dance moves, and the crowd cheered and clapped along to a spectacle most likely never witnessed before.
MANASIS is no stranger to presenting Greek culture to non-Greeks- in fact it’s almost their preference. Disseminating and promoting Hellenism to the ‘world’ is at the forefront of their philosophy as a dance school; and corporate level sporting games have had MANASIS dancers performing on numerous occasions now, most memorably, the AFL Grand Final, numerous world-football games at Etihad Stadium and now the Rugby is becoming a regular occurrence also!
Melbourne Storm were victorious, with an absolute thumping over the Gold Coast Titans, 24-8 in an incredible game.
“It’s the first time we have opted to take some of our younger students to such a high-profile, corporate event. With so much time spent on rehearsals, waiting for hours behind the stage I did have my doubts as to whether our students would have the stamina.
Quite simply, they exceeded every expectation! Behaviour, focus, performance, everything was absolutely phenomenal! While all the cultural organisations and participants gave their best, I’d like to believe that MANASIS and their ‘Zorba’ gave the Storm the energy they needed for the win!” says Director / Instructor Dimosthenis Manasis.
While ‘congratulations’ seems appropriate, the MANASIS dancers were humbled by the tens of thousands of spectators roaring “OPA”!
