Steve Teodosiadis

Greek Dance

Steve Teodosiadis participated in church-related Greek dance programs as his life took him from Long Beach to Oakland and finally to Seattle where he helped form the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church dance program. For forty years, he danced, directed, designed costumes, raised funds, and helped send hundreds of young dancers to participate at the annual Greek Folk Dance Festival (FDF).

Steve became a researcher/director in 1990, mentored by Joe Graziosi, Dimitri Kontoyiannis, and local instructors from Greece. Greek dancing became a way to study the culture, the history, the language, the geography of Greece. Then it became a way to make friends in the dance community and in Greece. Then it became a way to bring our youth together. And now it’s more a way to just feel young again. Greek dancing, by nature, is inclusive and sincere.

While teaching two generations of youth at St. Demetrios, Steve organized the Yasoo! symposiums, where he invited teachers like Kyriako Moisidis (Pontic/Drama 1999), Dimitri Mantzouratos (Kefallonia 2002), Achilleas Tsiaras (Roumlouki 2002), and Yianni Manos (Florina 2003). He also hosted three village groups from Thessaloniki (2000), Asvestades Thrace (2003), and Florina (2003) to perform in Seattle.

In 2023, Steve organized a trip to Agrafa, Greece to tour the area and learn dances and songs from the region with Yianni Katsis, a well-known teacher. Every evening the dancers got to sing and dance with locals in the village. On the final night, the group performed to a live local band at a village panagiri.

Steve is now teaching adult classes to include those who do not dance competitively. His entire family continues to dance wherever life takes them.