Information: Joe Kalyoyanides Graziosi, teacher of Greek dance

Joe was raised in the Boston area and received a Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) in history from Brandeis University. His extensive research on Greek folk dance encompasses studies in Greece as well as Greek communities in both the United States and Canada.

Joe began his formal pursuit of the study, documentation, and promulgation of traditional Greek dance during a semester abroad program in Athens where he worked with the noted folklorist, the late Ted Petrides. Concurrent with his research, he directed the Meraklides Folk Dance Troupe under the sponsorship of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ethnic Folk Arts Center (1982). In conjunction with his responsibilities as a director, he was also principal editor and author of an accompanying booklet on Greek music, dance and instrumentation.

From 1983 to 1989, Joe was co-founder and former instructor and dancer for the Greek-American Folklore Society in Astoria, New York. He has taught traditional folk and urban dances of the Greek peoples for various organizations throughout the United States and Canada, including major dance camps, weekend seminars, and retreats for both professional and amateur dance troupes as well as social clubs, community and church groups, and folk dance organizations. In 1990 he was invited to instruct Greek dance in Japan and Taiwan, and based on his success during his month long visit, returned in 1992. Joe has also been a guest lecturer on Greek dance and music for the ethnomusicology departments of the Universities of California Los Angeles and Santa Barbara (UCLA and UCSB).

Since 1985, he has served as advisor and judge for the annual Folk Dance Festival (FDF) held under the auspices of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of the Western States.