It was the third instalment, of the annual festival dedicated to highlighting and promoting the many Greek elements which make up the market- food, music, culture.
Hosted and presented in conjunction with the MANASIS School of Greek Dance and Culture, the event showcased live music and dance performances from:
The St. Johns College Greek Band “Dio Patrides”
K Studios- School of Performing Arts and Technique
Acoustiki Live Band
Hellenic Cultural Association of Melbourne “O Periklis”
Akrites Tou Pontou
Pan Macedonian Association of Melbourne and Victoria
MANASIS School of Greek Dance and Culture
…and there was even re-enactments of ancient battles with the Ancient Hoplitikon of Melbourne marching throughout the duration of the event! Angels were also flying overhead, but being a Greek day, we could only interpret this as the Winged Victory of Samothraki!
Organiser Dimosthenis Manasis stated that with any events that MANASIS is contracted to coordinating, there is an obligation to always extend an open and impartial invitation to the entire community to participate. In this event particularly, it was humbling to promote the fact that all the participants were ‘local’ or within very close proximity to the Preston area.
The crowd favourite of course was the all-in Zorba dance, which saw quite literally hundreds of people all join in to create an endless line, snaking its way up and through the aisles of the market, led by the youngest performers of the day, the MANASIS Beginners- some of which were only 3 years of age!
A very big congratulations to all participants, and our sincere gratitude to staff and management of Preston Market for supporting and embracing the celebration of cultural diversity at every opportunity.
The next major cultural attraction at Preston Market is schedules for Sunday 9th June, with the Latin Day spectacular!
