Syrtos

Syrtos[note 1] is a traditional Greek dance in which the dancers link hands to form a chain or circle, headed by a leader who intermittently breaks away to perform improvised steps.

He may also be a solo performer, improvising showy twisting skillful moves as the rest of the line does the basic step.

While he does this, the next dancer in line stops dancing and holds him up with a twisted handkerchief linking their hands, so he can turn and not fall down, as in the Antikristos.

The dancers in the chain maintain a simple fundamental step, but the leader improvises, often breaking away from the line.

In 1803, the surviving women of the war-torn town of Souli, faced with capture by Turkish troops, danced the syrtos as they threw themselves off the mountain of Zálongo.

[6] The Greek mainland, from the Peloponnese and Thessaly to Macedonia and Thrace, uses mainly the 78 rhythm form of the dance,[7] in contrast to Crete, the Aegean islands, Asia Minor and Constantinople that use 44.

[8][unreliable source] Kalamatianos syrtos or syrto-kalamatianos are the most popular Greek folkdance syrtoi in Greece, Cyprus and internationally.

According to tradition,[9] during the Fall of Constantinople, the Cretan defenders of the City, during the pauses of battle, sang between themselves poetic words urging each other to bravery, using two melodic motives, Protos Chaniotikos (First, from Chania) and Deuteros Chaniotikos (Second, from Chania) or Kissamitikos (from Kissamos).

When the City fell, the Sultan, observing the bravery of the Cretans allowed them to return to their homeland, Western Crete, fully armed.

Thus, these two melodies, the archetypes of all other Cretan Syrtoi, were introduced to Crete and in subsequent years they were put into dance.

It has been observed by authority of Greek traditional music Domna Samiou, that the Cretan Syrtos resembles to a certain degree the dances of the same name from Constantinople, the Aegean and Asia Minor.

Constantinople was referred as "the city" (or "poli") because of its importance as a seat of culture and trade in the civilized world.

Syrto (from the Greek word "syro" meaning to pull or, more accurately, to lead) is characterized by its slow-quick-quick rhythm within its 44 meter.