All of these photos are from my Greek dance group back home in St. Louis. Greek dancing has been such a big part in my life. It has taught me a lot about myself, others, and my heritage. It has introduced me to my life-long friends. It also helped me connect with my grandparents. Growing up, they Greek danced in their villages in Greece, so it’s nice to share a hobby with them. I know Greek dancing doesn’t really relate to academics, but it has helped me grow as a person. It has brought me closer with my Greek church back home and my Greek background. I never felt like it was difficult connecting with my grandparents who don’t speak English because I had a lot of similarities with them because of this hobby. Here at Ohio State, I am involved in a Greek youth group, and also I am taking language classes to keep up with my Greek. I’d like to continue my involvement in the Greek community not only for myself, but to continue the hard work my parents did for my brother and I to have what we have today. I definitely want to continue Greek dancing for as long as I can. Not because it is just fun, but because it opens so many doors to things I never thought existed.

I wanted to share these photos because my Greek heritage is a big part of my identity. I spend a lot of time speaking Greek, traveling to Greece over the summers, tutoring in Greek, Greek dancing, etc. One year, I led a dance from the Greek island, Zakynthos. My mother is from this island and I got to perform the dance in front of my grandma and my mother. It made them so happy. I remember that day I was wishing that my grandpa would be watching me as well.

Learning Greek dance came pretty naturally to me. There were a couple of songs that at first I needed a lot more help than the other kids. However, eventually I caught up. There are a lot of new dancers in our dance group. In middle school and high school I had to learn to be patient with other dancers if they didn’t understand how to do a certain dance or are not understanding a certain technique. Sometimes we would break into smaller groups and help teach each other. This helped us with our teaching skills as well. Collaborating with others is something I learned about through the process of Greek dancing. Because it is a group activity, teamwork is a necessity.