Hellenic flavour at Assyrian New Year festival in Sydney

The Senior Dancers of Sydney’s Pontoxeniteas NSW were special guests at this year’s Assyrian New Year festival in western Sydney on Sunday, March 30.

Amongst those who enjoyed their performance were Federal Opposition Leader the Hon Peter Dutton MP and NSW Premier Chris Minns.

Led by Pontoxeniteas NSW President Maria Anthony and Dance Instructor Christina Iwannidou, they performed a set of traditional dances from the Black Sea region, accompanied by Kosta Papoulidis on lyra and Peter Tsenkas on daouli (drum). The Pontian dancers later joined their Assyrian hosts in performing a traditional Assyrian folk dance, a powerful show of solidarity and multiculturalism in action.

Assyrians and Hellenes have a relationship going back millennia, with its origins lost in time. Hellas and Cyprus have served as safe havens for the Christian Assyrian people, especially during the times of their genocides in the early 1900s. Since the Gulf Wars of the 1990s, thousands of Assyrians have fled their homeland in modern Iraq and Syria, temporarily settling in Hellas and Cyprus before arriving as refugees in Australia.

See below from FB Pontian Association of NSW Pontoxeniteas

On behalf of our Pontian Association of NSW Pontoxeniteas committee and our members we would like to wish the Assyrian community, Happy New Year, 6775!
Congratulations to the Assyrian National Council – Australia , The Young Assyrians , Hermiz Shahen and his team for a successful event in celebration of the Assyrian New Year, with many politicians, community leaders, many of our own Pontoxeniteas NSW president Maria Anthony, Sophie Karatasas Panayiotis Diamadis, dance teachers Christina Iwannidou , Alexandra Delis our musicians, dance students and their families. In attendance was also the Consulate General of Greece, Sydney Mr Ioannis Mallikourtis ,the opposition leader the Hon Peter Dutton MP and the Premier of NSW Chris Minns MP.
Thank you for the kind invitation to participate in your festival and for the opportunity for our dance students to collaborate in the combined performance with the Assyrian dance group united as one.
Happy New Year, 6775!

Article’s Source: https://greekherald.com.au/community/hellenic-flavour-at-assyrian-new-year-festival-in-sydney/