| HISTORY |
| The St. George Pontian Brotherhood of Western Australia, first began in 1986. It took 10 years before the Pontians of Perth had their very own dancing group in WA. Thanks to Litsa Eleftheriades of Pontiaki Estia, in Melbourne, the dance group today, knows the basic steps of the traditional Pontian dances. Litsa came to Perth for only 1 week in April 1996 to gather up Perth adults and younger children and to teach them the basic Pontian dances. During the week that she spent in Perth, Litsa, and with the help of Reverend Father Theoklitos, managed to gather around 20 adults and young teenagers to practice 6 basic dances and to have them perform for the first time, at the annual Pontian dance. 15 of the 20 people performed that night, and it was a memorable night as it was the first time ever, a Perth Pontian dance group had performed. Even after Litsa returned back to Melbourne, the dance group continued practicing & performing, with Nick Keskinides as their teacher. In April 1999, Pontiaki Estia and Panagia Soumela came from Melbourne to Perth with Yianni Pilalidi as their teacher and performed along-side the Perth group at the Hellenic Hall in Northbridge. The 3 groups joined together and formed a brother/sister relationship with eachother. In August 1999, the dance group travelled to Melbourne for their first time ever interstate performance. The group and the committee members were invited from both Pontiaki Estia and Panagia Soumela dance groups for 10 days, and performed many times at different functions held by these two groups. In May 2000, this time with teacher Mandy Phatouros, the dance group was invited by the committee of Pontos Xenitea for approximately 5 days and also performed a number of times at different events in Sydney. Pontiaki Koinotita also came to Perth from Melbourne at the end of May 2000, with Ann Navrozidis as their teacher. The group only stayed for 3 days however managed to make time to perform with the Perth kids for their Annual Pontian Dance and also at other events during that weekend. In March 2003, the dance group travelled to Melbourne, this time with teacher Christina Karikis, to perform at the annual Antipodes Festival on Lonsdale Street. The group were in Melbourne for 5 days and performed on 2 separate occasions. They were invited by Pontiaki Koinotita, however the dance group did also spend quite abit of time with other dance kids from both Pontiaki Estia and Panagia Soumela dance groups. |
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