There was a Cretan dancing extravaganza at the Cretan Federation of Australia and New Zealand’s (CFANZ) dinner dance in Melbourne, Victoria on Friday night.
The dinner dance was part of the 41st Cretan National Convention by the CFANZ and was held at the club hall of the Pancretan Association of Melbourne.
There were hundreds of people in attendance including a number of special guests such as His Grace Bishop Kyriakos of Sozopolis representing Archbishop Makarios of Australia; Father George Kanellis representing Metropolitan Myron of New Zealand; the Consul General of Greece in Melbourne, Emmanuel Kakavelakis; the President of the CFANZ, Tony Tsourdalakis; as well as many other leaders of Cretan and Greek organisations from across Australia and NZ.
The night began with a number of official speeches by the President of the Pancretan Association of Melbourne, Manuel Starakis; Bishop Kyriakos and Father George.
Awards were also given to Cretan musicians, Grigoris Samolis and Stelios Papadakis, who had travelled from Crete for the Convention.
Mr Starakis welcomed everyone to the dinner dance and said he hoped everyone would return to their respective states and countries with “nothing but good things to say about Melbourne.”
Bishop Kyriakos and Father George then took to the stage to conduct a blessing and encouraged everyone, especially the youth in attendance, to enjoy the night.
At the conclusion of these official proceedings, five Cretan dancing groups from across different states and territories in Australia, including Victoria and NSW, performed a number of traditional Cretan dances.
At the end of each group’s performance, dancers were awarded medals from the CFANZ before an obligatory group photo was taken.
The night ended with everyone on the dance floor and mingling with each other.
*All photos copyright The Greek Herald / Andriana Simos.
