cretan dances

1. Syrtos or Chaniotikos is the most famous dance of Crete. It is called Syrtos because the first dancer drives the second, the second the third and etc. It is said that it is called Syrtos, because the steps are dragged to the ground without losing their contact with the earth, which ancient Cretans worshipped as goddess. Also, it is called Chaniotikos because it was first danced in Chania.

According to the tradition, Cretans, in their few moments of rest from the war with Turcs, sang songs that motivated them to continue, combining the ancient dance Pyrichios with Byzantine music, creating their own songs.

After the years had passed, at a wedding in Chania, they ordered the musician to play these songs in order to dance these ritual dances, resulting in the dance that we now call Syrtos.

The woman also goes first in Syrtos, always accompanied by a man. She gives great importance to her expression and she is distinguished for her modesty, her majesty and her nobility; characteristics that remind us of the blue ladies of Knossos.

2. Malevisiotis or Katrinos is the fastest and liveliest dance of Crete. It differs from mountainous areas to those that are in plains. Nowadays, Maleviziotis is on the top of Cretan’s repertoire. It is said to be a descendant of the ancient war dance Orcitis or other war dance that represent the battles during the siege of Heraklion by many conquerors.

3. Susta is the dance of love, where the dancers form couples abreast one from the other. From there on, a dancing “dialogue”, full of symbolisms develops between the man and the woman. The present name of the dance was given during the period of Venetian occupation of Crete by the Italian word susta which means spring, since the body does this move during the dance.