Greece Culture: Attiki (Attica) Music and Dance

The same dances are found here as in the Peloponnese, i.e.. the pan hellenic dances, though the dances of Megara present and exception to this. There, along with the Syrtos Kalamatianos , the Trata is associated with Easter Tuesday, and was once danced by women who accompanied themselves by singing. The Gartilamas (Karsilamas), in a 9/8 rhythm, is danced by couples who face each other, who dance either at random on the dance floor or are placed in a circle. The women dance with the closed fist at the waist and the right holding a handkerchief, which is waved in the air during the dance.

The instruments played for this dance are the violin and laouto. Curiously, the same dance is done on the island of Kythnos, usually by men who dance opposite one another, though with local variations in the melodies played. The dance known as Hadjichristos is done both by men and women and alternates between the syrtos and the tsamikos, the first resembling the island syrtos, and with a lead male dancer doing the tsamikos variations. Lastly, a men's dance done in this region is the Loulouvikos, which is a hasaposervikos type dance which includes an arduous squatting step.