By Andrea Photopoulos

As a fellow Greek dancer and FDF participant of many years, I just want to wish all of you dancers and singers the BEST OF LUCK in this year’s competition. FDF has been the biggest and most looked forward to Greek dance competition for years on the West, impacting the lives of many young Greek Americans... one of them being Miss Vasiliki Fkiaras, a Greek dancer of sixteen years and an FDF participant of nine years. I asked her to share her story with NEO...

“I Love FDF”

By Vasiliki Fkiaras

The Folk Dance and Choral Festival aka “FDF”, is one of the greatest Greek dancing competitions ever. Many Greek Americans from all over the West Coast and sometimes even other countries look forward to this event every year. I began my journey as a Greek dancer at the young age of five, with the dance group “Mesologgi” at St. Nicholas Church in San Jose where I grew up. My first FDF was when I was 12 and I have been going to FDF ever since. Even when I went off to college three years ago to Sonoma, I wanted to continue dancing, so I joined the Oakland dance group “Chrysi Aeti”. I drive 45 minutes to practice and even have to pay the Richmond bridge toll every time, but it's all so worth it. I love FDF. I love the environment and the great energy that happens during this event. A whole lot of fun, with festivities going on all weekend long. FDF has to be one of the most memorable events that I have had in my life.

I have been able to meet amazing people and make new friends from cities all over California. FDF has exposed me to my Greek heritage and has educated me on my Greek history with the different dances from different regions of Greece. As for the competition, each group picks a region of Greece and performs a set of dances sometimes with singing too. The dance competition takes place on Friday and Saturday with each dance group performing two different sets, “semi-final” and “final”. The awards banquet is on Sunday, which is my favorite part because we get to dress up in evening wear and celebrate everyone's victories. FDF has become a very important part of my life. Every year I look forward to the reunion of new and old friends and the excitement and pride that the weekend's fun festivities will bring.

SHARE YOUR FDF STORIES AND PHOTOS (PAST OR PRESENT) WITH NEO AT a.photopoulos@neomagazine.com

I want to know how FDF has had a positive impact on your life. Find out more about FDF and how you can help support this amazing Greek dancing event at
http://www.yourfdf.org/support.html

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