On the 25th of October we will be gathering with historian Ilaeira Agrotou Georgiou to learn about the representation of Cypriot traditional dances as eternal and intransient, but also as historical markers of a developing national character. Dance historians, such as Elsie Ivancich Dunin’s writings on Romani dance celebrations during 1960s Macedonia, or Maltese Fuhraman’s exploration of the clash between European and demotic dances in the 18th century Eastern Mediterranean, have argued that traditional dances should be treated as oral sources. In their intricate and precise movements they tell a specific history of people weathering the political landscape around them in their everyday lives. Through colonial writings and archival footage, we will explore how the traditional dances of the island reflected grapplings with identity, gender and partition. We will especially focus on how dances reflect the anxieties around Cypriot women at a time when Cypriots were struggling to define and differentiate themselves into separate communities.

Ilaeira Agrotou Georgiou has an undergraduate degree in literature from the University of Cambridge and a postgraduate degree in history from the University of Edinburgh. She has specifically focused on gender in British-ruled Cyprus.