Mikonos Zorba Dance

quick sketch  for ready to sail

Mikonos today with its' tourist hotels bears little resemblance to the old Mikonos of the late fifties early sixties. A time when the Greek Islands were seen as a paradise on earth, a place of escape from the ongoing crises of the cold war. Greeks in general felt that with the bloody civil war behind them things were looking up. Kazantzakis had just published his novel "Zorba the Greek", and the sixties generation were to take his approach to heart. Greek rebeticia music had hit the airways with its' sense of zest for life .quite infectious. For those of my readers who know nothing of this music and its individual beat it originated in Asia Minor where entertainer sung and played the music in the hashish dens and brothels of Smyrna's nightclubs. If you still have never read Kazantzakis let me recommend him, he is by far the major Greek writer of the 20th cent.

Standard accommodation then was the little whitewash cottage with hand woven rugs scattered on the floor or sometimes used as wall hangings. You often had to fetch water from a well in the courtyard , while the toilet facilities were at best primitive. Heather and I after spending a day in the port decided to walk across the sand dunes to a little cafe over on a beach a short distance away. This proved to be a real hideaway ,built right on the beach with a basic awning for shade over the outside tables. During our walk we pasted a fisherman pounding an octopus on the rocks, little did we realise that was dinner. We watch him for a while tenderising the meal which with cheap wine would make a wonderful repast.

During the meal a small band of musicians played traditional folk music while we sat back to enjoy the evening entertainment. To our surprise our fisherman suddenly appeared and started to dance, then the band played the Zorba dance and our dancer moved over to a table and while still dancing to the beat, bent his knees ,back straight and took hold of a dinner table between his teeth. Keeping a table leg in front of his chest , still laden with plates, he stood up hands above his head and proceeded to dance around the cafe. The customers went wild with excitement, it was as if Zorba himself had appeared Poseidon like out of the sea. Incredibly he did not tire, but kept a vice like grip on the table with his teeth for what seemed an eternity. The electricity and energy filled everyone, the dance seemed to continue for every and a day. It was one of those moments that even today fifty years later seems as vivid and as wonderful as though it was yesterday.

quick sketch for fishing boats on the beach