By Eleni Christopoulos-Lekkas and KostasLekkas. 5l min. Blu-ray formal, color. (Lekkas Films, Tarpon Springs, FL.)

Journal of American Folklore: Film Review

WINNIE LAMBRECHT
Rhode Island School of Design

The opening montage of vignelles from Tarpon Springs, Florida, provides audiences with a compelling visual introduction to an engaged Greek community sharing a vibrant cultural identity: Director Eleni Christopoulos-Lekkas and producer Tina Bucuvalas Dancing as One: The Greek Community of Tarpon Springsis narrated by Metropolitan Nikitas, Director of the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute in Berkeley, California. Nikitas, himself a Tarpon Springs native, eloquently summarizes the current context of the local Greek sponge industry. This occupational specially of Greek immigrants gives the community its distinctive imprint: it is “the reason,” the narrator tells us, “Tarpon Springs exists.” The Church of St. Nicholas, a hub for the Greek population of Tarpon Springs, was built with communal contributions: “Every captain, every boat, every sponge diver gave a portion of his earnings to [the] building of this Church.

In addition to shared occupation, shared ownership of the church, and shared identity; the film documents other aspects of Greek culture. Regional differences, particularly in expressive culture-such as costume, dance style, food, and music—are shared from generation to generation, often maintained through weddings, Easter, and other celebrations. Youth involvement is reinforced with dance classes (a sizable portion of the film is devoted to community and youth dancing), resulting in young people “dancing together as one,” quoting Maria Kouskoutis, the Director of St. Nicholas Dance Ministry. She echoes the narrator’s statement that regional styles of dance remain, though they may no longer exist in the homeland, a fact I have noticed in other immigrant communities. For example, Kouskoutis mentions Cappadocia, an area (now in Turkey) from which Greeks were forced out, reminding viewers familiar with Greek history of the territorial disputes pitching Greece against Turkey after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, which contributed to Greek immigration to the United Stales during the first quarter of the twentieth century. Following the depiction of regional dance, a musical interlude allows for yet another positive appreciation for the spirit that animales the community. “Our dream,” says Tarpon Springs
musician and music teacher Iconidas Zafiris, “is for our culture to continue for generations to come… Tarpon Springs is the strongest Greek community in the United Stales, and we want it to stay that way.”

Anastasios Karastinos, a sponge boal captain and diver who moved to Tarpon Springs in
1971, provides the key to the film’s narrative. He explains that the sponge industry existed prior to the surge of Greck participation in the trade. The mechanized diving methods for harvesting sponges were introduced by Greek sponge buyer and entrepreneur John Cocoris. The growth of sponge harvesting attracted several families from the Dodecanese islands, thus creating the Greek hub of Tarpon Springs.

Viewers of the film may wonder if, in the face of inevitable economic and technological changes, such optimistic views about the Greek sponge industry are expressed as a result of (or perhaps as a counterpoint to) threats to an occupation that is indeed endangered. In his description of the skills involved in diving for sponges, Karastinos alludes to the shifting economic context that is partially transforming sponge diving into a tourist attraction and to environmental threats to sea life in general. In spite of this, he expresses hope for the continuity of this skilled profession and its emotional connection to the sea.