An international event dedicated to zeibekiko, one of Greece’s most popular and unique dances, attracted dancers from all over the world and proved that Greek traditions not only remain alive but can moreover inspire the younger generations.
The 2nd International Zeibekiko Festival Izefa 2025, held earlier this month in Athens, brought together more than 150 participants not only from Greece but from countries such as Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and the United Kingdom, who together shared Greece’s cultural heritage through the Greek zeibekiko -a dance that has no set steps and no particular rhythm. It requires an inner intensity, because it is an improvised movement that expresses the feelings of the individual who gets up to dance.
The festival included a number of high-level zeibekiko competitions, where dancers of all ages shone on stage with their technique and ability to convey the feelings rooted in this dance. Zeibekiko is a personal, intense dance full of passion. And the feelings the dancer conveys are mainly feelings of defeat, of sadness, life’s despair and unfulfilled dreams, the bad luck you see coming, the dark at the end of the tunnel. Young dancers, even children, were the stars of the event. Raul Valentin, a 14-year-old from Cyprus, won the gold medal.
“It’s incredibly hopeful to watch children and teenagers to love [zeibekiko] and express themselves through zeibekiko,” said Dora Satolia, the planner of the festival. “This generation ensures that our dance will keep the place that it has in Greece’s culture but also worldwide.”
The festival also featured a number of seminars decoding the history and values of Greek zeibeiko while the next international event celebrating the uniqueness of the dance is already in the works.
The Greek dance Zeibekiko
Originally, Zeibekiko was strictly a man’s dance, but women have begun to take part in the expressive movement, breaking gender roles.
A real man is not embarrassed to manifest his pain or weaknesses. He ignores social conventions and shallow condescension. He will pick the song and the lyric that expresses his personal situation or state of mind. So, he is the one to pick the song and take the floor to dance, in a small place, humbly and with dignity.
A real man will dance the zeibekiko only once, he will not monopolize the floor in front of the band. The song he chose expresses his deep hurt and this is the one he will dance to, by himself and with his demons. Like a man who faces the abyss.
It is important for the real zeibekiko ritual that the man is alone on the floor. He doesn’t need anyone to clap along as he dances.
It is not a social dance, no one will dance it during a celebration or a feast. It is a personal moment, like the time of prayer, and his friends and significant other must know and respect that.
And, of course, no stranger is allowed to come close. It is an insult to interrupt a man who dances the zeibekiko. People have been killed or stabbed for interrupting a zeibekiko dancer.
The dance takes its name from the Zeybeks, a militia living in the Aegean Region of the Ottoman Empire from late 17th to early 20th centuries. It was first seen at the end of the 17th century in cities such as Constantinople and Smyrni.
Originally it was like a war dance: two armed men facing one another. It later developed into an improvised dance for a single male.
In recent years in Greece, the zeibekiko has lost its true meaning and sheen. It is mainly a public show for men who want to prove they are real men.