UN body adds lights and music to...
Jill Stone  |  by www.canadaeast.com. All rights reserved. 10.11 | 17:09

Dancers perform a traditional Italian dance during an United Nations backed event aimed at using dance to promote greater familiarity and friendship between people, near Athens on Thursday. (AP/Kostas Tsironis)

ATHENS (AP) - Stavros Karayanni was a boy when his father was killed in the Turkish invasion of Cyprus 32 years ago. He found an unusual way of overcoming his anger: a devotion to Middle Eastern dancing.


"I couldn't stay out of dance class," said Karayanni, who wrote the 2004 book "Dancing Fear and Desire," a history of Middle Eastern dance.
On Friday, he joined more than 450 dance enthusiasts from 55 countries taking part in a United Nations-backed event aimed at using dance to promote greater familiarity and friendship among peoples. The annual World Congress on Dance Research includes performances from sacramental rituals to ancient Greek and Asian performances.


Dancers in bright purple and gold flowing costumes swirled and gyrated to clanging bells and beating drums.
Carolina Varga Dinicu captivated a crowd of several hundred as she performed while ringing hand cymbals. Dinicu, who started her dance career in New York, joked that she has been dancing "since Noah got off the ark.

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Participants travelled from as far as South Africa, Chile and Canada to contribute dance techniques.
"This is a wonderful idea and a great way to spread culture around the world," said Meera Das, who teaches and performs the classical Indian dance "Odissi" at international festivals.
The event is backed by UNESCO, and organized by Greece's traditional Dora Stratou Dance Theatre along with the International Dance Council.

The Congress aims to promote diversity by showcasing all types of dance.
"People have space here and it's not hierarchical," said Karayanni, who will be belly dancing in his performance. "It is a good place to share ideas.

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Using dance to overcome social and political problems will also be a theme.
MOTUS, an Italian dance company, frequently travels to Eastern Europe, working to communicate the horrors of the region's history to children through dance. "Everyone wants .

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Keywords: Middle Eastern, Italian Dance, United Nations
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