What Performances and Events Does the Dora Stratou Greek Dances Theatre Offer?

The Dora Stratou Greek Dances Theatre (grdance.org) runs daily performances at an 860-seat garden theatre on Filopappou Hill in Athens, staged by a company of 75 dancers, musicians, and singers. Performances draw on a collection of 2,000 museum costumes, jewellery, embroideries, and folk-art objects that are actually worn on stage. Beyond the nightly shows, the organisation offers school education programmes, festivals, conferences, and a parallel programme of dance, embroidery, and dance-therapy courses.

The main performance programme

• Daily shows at the garden theatre. The theatre seats 860 and operates on Filopappou Hill, with performances described as running every day.
• A full company on stage. 75 dancers, musicians, and singers make up the performing group, so the programme covers dance, live music, and song together rather than dance alone.
• Authentic costumes in use. The 2,000-piece collection of museum costumes, jewellery, and embroideries is not display-only — the pieces are worn in the performances, which is what the organisation means by calling itself a "living museum of Greek dance" since 1953.

Festivals and conferences

The theatre organises the World Congress for Dance Research, along with the festivals Anapali and Emmeleia. These sit alongside the regular performance schedule rather than replacing it, so a visitor planning around a specific date should check whether a festival or congress is running at the same time.

Educational visits for primary schools

There is a dedicated programme of educational visits for primary schools (δημοτικά σχολεία). This is a separate track from the public evening performances, aimed at school groups rather than individual visitors.

Courses, seminars, and special classes

The school side of the organisation runs:

• Dance lessons for beginners, advanced students, and children
• Seminars and lectures for experienced dancers
• Teacher training for dance teachers
• Lessons and seminars conducted in English
• Special courses in traditional embroidery, rebetiko dances, and dance therapy

Research, archive, and publications

Alongside performances, the theatre maintains research programmes in the ethnography, history, and sociology of dance with international collaborations, plus a study group on ancient Greek orchestics (ὄρχησις). It holds a library and an archive of recordings, films, photographs, and records.

Its publishing output includes more than 53 records, 15 cassettes, 7 video cassettes, 30 books in various languages, 8 CD-ROMs, and 5 DVDs. It also makes or rents copies of the authentic costumes in its collection, and runs the portal "Pandektis of Greek Dance" at dance-pandect.gr. The organisation collaborates with the International Dance Council (CID) of UNESCO.

How to decide what to attend

Practical notes

The organisation is a public-benefit body funded by the Ministry of Culture and the Greek National Tourism Organisation (EOT), under the auspices of the Municipality of Athens. The site does not state ticket prices, booking methods, or performance start times in the material available here, so confirm those directly before planning a visit.