Founders
Maria Giakoumatos
Born in the mid-west, a cultural hub for Greek immigrants, Maria was immersed in the Greek culture where music, song and dance, were vivid expressions of celebrated every day life. It was a way for immigrant parents, in their new life America, to connect, honor and reminisce life in Greece. From a very young age Maria embraced her culture through dancing, which became her chosen past time, and cultivated memorable experiences that resonate today.
As life evolved, Maria was brought to the DC area, and experienced the vast difference between Greek communities within the United States. Feeling displaced from the community and culture in which she cherished, Maria searched for familiarity of home laden with traditions rooted in Greek folk dance. Maria began to build the foundation of a Hellenic dance program as a labor of love, with each step, taking her closer to the Greek culture she lacked in her new city.
For more than 15 years, Maria has developed a large-scale Hellenic dance program at the St. George Greek Orthodox Church, in Bethesda, Maryland as a teacher and director. From its humble beginnings the program has grown to over 120 dancers from age 5 to 18, as well as an adult dance program. Under Maria’s leadership, the program has been invited to perform at numerous events, including cultural, civic and private functions. More recently, the program has performed at the White House for the annual Greek Independence Day celebration. The dancers have also begun competing in US national traditional Hellenic dance festivals, winning numerous awards for their performances.
As a program director, Maria’s stedfast goal has been to share her knowledge, to strive to teach and maintain the authenticity of Hellenic dance, song, and music to keep traditions alive. Her passion drives her to seek knowledge supporting her zest for being a life-long learner. As a student, she has learned from the best and most respected researchers, teachers, and musicians, both within the United States and in Greece. She is constantly reminded of the true honor to continue to preserve the Hellenic culture and history in perpetuity.
As Founders of HPAF
Both Maria Giakoumatos and Maria Panayotou, as founders of HPAF, strongly believe that there is a deep responsibility to preserve and protect Hellenic folk performing art history. As such, Hellenic Performing Arts Foundation was created based on this determination.
By promoting the sharing of knowledge, Maria and Maria create a culture that encourages collaboration in research, teaching and documentation of the customs, traditions and practices of our ancestors, providing a tangible hand hold to the past.
Hellenic history is rich and laden with traditions, both Maria and Maria feel fortunate to create a space for preservation, celebration and connection of song, music and dance to continue to interlace these traditions into the modern diaspora.
Maria Panayotou
Growing up in Upstate, New York, Maria was fortunate enough to spend most summers abroad in Greece, where she unknowingly fostered a deep-seated connection to her culture from a very young age. One of her most vivid memories centers around learning dances with her yiayia in the family home in Aperi, Karpathos. As the afternoon sun seeped through the windows, Maria, and her namesake, danced in small circles repeating steps of dances that would be repeated throughout the night during local festivities.
Active in the community, Maria began dancing at a young age through the church curated programs. As she aged out of the church dance programs, she, along with several friends, created their own professional dance troupe. It was through this troupe that Maria developed her dance repertoire through conferences and learning experiences across the United States. The troupe was fortunate to perform in Tarpon Springs, FL at the Epiphany Celebration, along with countless festivals across the east coast, weddings, cultural programs and civic events. These experiences bloomed into larger community-based events including seminars with US based instructors along with instructors and musicians from Greece.
Maria eventually relocated to the DC Metro area and through a workshop, met Maria Giakoumatos. Some would say, the rest is history. During her time in DC, she expanded her dance involvement to create the Syrtos podcast. Now, with over 60 recorded episodes, the podcast aims to tell the stories of Hellenic dance and music through interviews with teachers, musicians and dance enthusiasts both within and outside of the USA. In 2024 Syrtos grew to include a peer-review journal of Greek folk dance and music with estimated publication in 2025.
Maria believes deeply in purposeful visioning, which comprised her doctoral studies. Simply put, this process allows people to visualize and map out a path with activities that support their passions and creativity. From her start in purposeful visioning, Maria has always drawn upon the deep roots of Hellenic dance and traditions to create purpose to her life activities.