Anatolian Greek Institute of Arts, AGIA

05/24/2026

Συγκίνηση στην Κω – Ισχυρός συμβολισμός με τις σημαίες των χωρών που αναγνώρισαν τη Γενοκτονία των Ελλήνων του Πόντου
📷: kosnews24

Link στο 1ο σχόλιο 👇

04/25/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1HAuf96NCV/

03/06/2026

Miriam in Greek is Panayia. From Panayia we have the female name Panayiota & the male name Panayioti.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, holds a unique place in the Quran. Her name, Maryam, appears around 34 times — more often than she is mentioned by name in the New Testament of the Bible. She is also the only woman mentioned by name in the entire Quran.

In fact, an entire chapter of the Quran is dedicated to her: Surah Maryam (Chapter 19). It tells the story of her devotion, faith, and the miraculous birth of Jesus.

Across different religions and traditions, Mary remains one of the most respected and honored women in history.

03/06/2026

Greece has completed the first phase of a coordinated repatriation operation to bring home citizens stranded in the Middle East, amid rising military tensions and regional instability. Full story: https://tinyurl.com/yc8da959

03/05/2026

In the early 1780s, an enslaved woman named Elizabeth Freeman — known as Mum Bett — heard something powerful being discussed in her enslaver’s home: the new Massachusetts Constitution declaring that “all men are born free and equal.”

She decided to test those words. With help from lawyer Theodore Sedgwick, she sued for her freedom. In Brom and Bett v. Ashley (1781), a jury ruled in her favor on August 22, 1781, freeing her and awarding damages. Her enslaver dropped his appeal.

Together with the Quock Walker cases, her victory helped push Massachusetts courts to treat slavery as unconstitutional — effectively ending legal slavery in the state by 1783. Freeman went on to live as a paid worker and midwife, becoming a respected member of her community until her death in 1829.

She didn’t just hear the words “born free and equal.” She made them mean something.

02/28/2026

🇪🇬🖤🇬🇷 Αιωνία η μνήμη σας Κυρία Καίτη. Καλό Παράδεισο. Ευχαριστούμε όλοι για την υπέροχη πολιτιστική κληρονομιά που μας αφήσατε! Πάντα θα είσαστε η γλυκιά προτο χορεύτρια μας: στην καρδιά, στην, ψυχή κ στο νου. Να μας προστατεύεται κ να μας καμαρώνετε από ψηλά. Εμείς πάντα θα σας έχουμε κορόνα στο κεφάλι. Από μια προσφυγόπουλα στην άλλη. Ευχαριστώ την μαμά μου κ την γιαγιά μου που μου έβαλαν να δω τα έργα σας.

At we will continue to honor Katy Voutsaki (Foutsaki Fostaty) work & legacy. The style of dance I teach is Egyptian Greek & Anatolian Greek. Influenced by our Queen Keti. I had an aunt name Keti also & she always reminded me of your regal elegance. My baby niece, my brothers daughter, looks almost exactly like Kitty.

Egypt lost a treasure & we're grateful as Greeks for contributions. As a young girl growing up, I always admired her. I have family who owned a very popular Greek music/video store. We also used to shop at Arabic markets as well. Always had access to amazing films. She has been & always willl be one of my greatest inspirations. Coming from a refugee surviving family, we had relatives that also went to Egypt. I was the first in the bellydance industry to properly mention her in her name & work as an Egyptian Greek dancer. You can very with Shira as I worked with her over twenty years.

The Jewish & Israeli community were always trying to say she was of that identity. If she was, ok. But the woman clearly said many times she wasn't. Even till her final days she states to all she was a Egyptian Greek/Greek Orthodox. Since the continued rise of nationalism & racism in our dance industry, it’s important to take a lesson in many levels. Extreme Nationalism & assumptions have no place in our communities.

It’s important to always be as accurate as possible & to never spread false information. I remember reaching out to several Jewish dancers to tell them these historical facts & that they should update their websites. But they got upset & deleted me from FB. As cultural educators it’s our job to do proper research and present work of others respectfully & accurately.

02/24/2026

I am often asked, how do I know so much & am not limited to just mainland Greek knowledge? Because my parents were raised in ghetto slum refugee districts in Greece. My people, my family, my ancestors are genocide surviving victims of the Anatolian Christian ethnic cleansing of Türkiye. We had NO CHOICE but to learn & understand not through books. But through oral traditions, assimilation & lived experiences that have been passed down to us.

Nothing was more insulting than to read a comment years ago on my FB page, where I was discussing MY Peoples story ~ "where are your sources". I replied in anger "B*tch I am your source". Not the best choice of words. I know. But I allowed that white academic elitist to trigger me. Gee sorry, many family are dead for me to go ask them for their sources of which your western colonial countries created & backed such crimes. It wasn't just Turkiye. Attaturk was backed by who else? What do you think?

Before anyone cries "cultural appropriation", look up the definition of what is cultural appreciation vs shared cultural traditions. Because at the end of the day, all of you have been colonizers & have been colonized. The Greeks, The Turks, The Arabs etc. Stop living in denial. Stop this hate. Stop it. And stop harassing & humiliating Black dancers & people. They have experienced their own Genocide. Not just in land but in the arts too. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Stop denying your Ottoman & Byzantine roots too. And yes my darlings many of Arabic speaking world have Greek heritage too & they are being erased there through "Arabization". But that's another conversation. Have you done a dna test? Everyone wants new titles without realizing we are jokes to the white elites. This is what they want. Why feed the matrix?

Who owns the dance? Arabs, Greek, Turks, Armenian, Assyrian, Egyptians? Let's see the brilliant opinions in the comment.

Fun Fact: In the photo, is wearing a traditional dress that is from settlers, referrered to as Ghawazi people, that came to Egypt not too long. They are considered "indigenous". Interesting 💫

02/21/2026

Via 💫 Kalimerhaba, I'm Panayiota Symeonidis Bakis & here to tell you what happened as social media hate crime went down this past week against our Black dance community. For those that don't know me, I'm in the International Middle Eastern dance community 30 years now & am a 4th generation performing artist. Iv alwyas been involved in my dance community long time & in all conversations. ESPECIALLY when it comes to human rights & racism. I have pretty solid presence in my industry & all who know me, know EXACTLY where I stand. I took break from socials due to moving back to usa from another country. I post mainly non speaking videos because coming from activist Anatolian Greek refugee surving family, when I speak, I come off as "angry, aggressive & loud", which I'm not. I'm just passionate & not from the suburbs! So I find it easier to just write. When it comes to racism though I will be in your face. Especially if you come after my people I'm not "eloquent". Since insta is now super wide audience, I thought I'd give little intro!

Now, to the purpose of my post: before I share more I'd love for you to give lots of love to our gorgeous dance sister . She was attacked out of nowhere from a new racist dancer. Unfortunately Tay wasn't the only one. There was another Black dancer as well, whose name will not be mentioned. Aside from this, it has been full blown attack on all Black Americans. As a VERY long standing international dance community we DO NOT tolerate such behavior! Others kept quiet & it's a big shame really. And others took waaaaay too long to speak up.

She went on to throw the "hero" card in her stories to anyone who stood against her position. That rhetoric doesn't fly for us of surviving refugee genocide families! Many of our parents were born & raised in refugee ghetto slums. We are tough. We don't back down. We don't accept bullies. Also throwing the "hero" card was clever psychological tactic to get the weak minded to back off & stay quite for her to continue her abusive behavior.

I wrote some more info which you can read in the comment section. All from the heart. I write a lot. Can't help it.

02/21/2026

If you’re not in the International Bellydance Community, then this post doesn’t apply to you. There is a woman, new to our industry who has exhibited dangerously hateful behavior. Unfortunately, she is also a native dancer. And now, she is throwing the Sudan & Palestine card. While her stories are filled with anti Black rehetoric. And her harrassing other nagivr dancers. All I will say that it’s only a matter of time till our Indigenous ancestral spiritual guides step in. Because enough is enough. Don’t mess with innocent people if you don’t know who is protecting them from above.

We have already stepped into a powerful year. Aside from that, lets say you don’t know about energy & indegenous ancient practices, example it was just Chinese New Year & its the year of the fire horse. Which fyi if you’re a horse, according to Chinese systems it’s not your year from my understanding. You actually need to protect yourselves more. Its also Black History Month! As well as Muslim & Christian holy days. So wether you know about Mystcism OR follow relgions its NOT the times to create hate & drama. Even wars will have a ceasefire! And of course it’s never appropriate or necessary to spread such vile hate.

I often speak about my people ~ Anatolian Greek Genocide. But i have never expressed vile hate to anyone. You can speak on your people & sociopolitical matters without dangerously hateful way. So not only does this person not care about another human, there is also no respect to God/Source/Ancestors. Speaking on your country & some valid points is one thing. But this girl did not have this true intention. This racist is creating tremendous pain & humiliation to native dancers & it will not last. People like this fizzle out.

Im sure you saw what went down in southern states when ICE was trying to enter the territory. The ancestors were summoned & nobody even dared to go near there. Our community is being tested. Just stay calm, stop feeding her algorithm & let Source handle it. Check in with each other to make sure all our dance sisters/brothers/cousins are all ok. The Divine is always more powerful than Toxicity.

As a Christian Anatolian Greek Orthodox, I believe strongly in the power of prayer & in God/Jesus and his crew. Yes, I’m Christian but I have a very strong educational knowledge & experience in Indegenous healing/belief systems. God/Jesus is my bestie. But I respect everyone’s history and cultural heritage. In my religion it’s also been week of the transitioned souls. So they are around us now more than ever these days. It’s ok to ask God & your loved ones for their protection. Many think it’s not needed to ask. Well, yes it is. Don’t allow any troubled soul, here on earth to inflict pain on you and/or our community.

We’re stronger united. Of course we have our disagreements & heated debates. But not on this level. Last time something huge went down was with the “list” & few right wing Turkish dancers harrassing me. Remember that? Im sure you did because many of dance community didn’t support me except for Black dancers & couple Armenians. Others only behind the scenes. I will never forget. Right wing ideologies from ANY MENAHT region have no place in our community.

I forgive you but i don’t forget. I understand, many non natives get confused. You feel you must take a side or stay quiet. Never take the side of a right wing nationalist. Many didn’t speak up, you delayed with this attack on Black dancers. Why because it was coming from another native dancer. Being native dancer is not a free pass to be dangerously racist. Especially when it’s directed to our beautiful Black dancers. You all need to understand this… iv been trying to tell you all for years but you didn’t listen. This industry is extremely political. SWANA countries are always arguing amongst each other. Our various ethnic groups within each state has beef with each other. Then different political systems within the country. Then add on religion. And different sectors of certain religions. It’s literally a circus! You will never understand unless you’re raised in our worlds.

Bellydance, Middle Eastern dance, MENAHT dance (or whatever you want to call it) is the one thing that has brought us together and we haven’t been fighting about ownership, IN the industry, like….. ever. Only recent years. And guess what. I actually know & understand why this beef started with this girl regarding the dance. If you want to know, comment below & i will make a post when i have time. Honestly, i can go on forever. I really just need to be on TedTalks and other big stages instead of constantly banging away on the keyboard.

Like I said. The world is shifting, upgrading & all those without good intentions will find another hobby OR they will publicly apologize. But the damage has been done. Sometimes I’ve gotten pulled into that spiralling toxic glitch. But we must take a breath & bring ourselves back. Our community has come together & finally speaking out. I surprise myself sometimes… being super loud & spicy by nature, I find ways to rebound myself somehow & become the voice of reason, logic & peace.

Ancestors, please do your thang 🙏💙😇
Protect all who need protection. Bring healing love and peace. Amin

Peace✨ Love
Panayiota Symeonidis Bakis

*when I say "you" I'm speaking to our dance collective. English is my second language. I do my best to re-read & edit to make sure I'm clear*