WASHINGTON- AHEPA gives the opportunity to students to be one of a small, select group of Greek-American high school students selected from all over the country to participate in AHEPAcademy, an interactive leadership and networking seminar to be held on the campus of George Mason University outside Washington, DC from June 21-27, 2009.  download your application today!

Andonis Foniadakis — last seen at The Joyce Theater as choreographer of Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève (2007) and Benjamin Millepied & Company (2006) — now premieres The Rite of Spring at Joyce SoHo, November 20-23. For his Joyce SoHo debut, the Greek-born choreographer will present a solo version of the evening-length work which he created last year for the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève. This provocative piece, set to Stravinsky’s masterpiece, celebrates the female body as the ultimate instrument and carrier of sexual and unseen internal forces as it recalls her lost primitiveness. Superbly danced by Ioanna Toumpakari, The Rite of Spring charts the passage from ordinary to ecstatic while conveying the violence and eroticism sparked by the battle between the soloist and Stravinsky’s power-packed score. After Hours @ Joyce SoHo, a post-performance Q&A with the artists, will follow the November 21 performance. For Tickets go to www.joyce.org or via phone at (212) 352-3101.

About the Artist:

A native of Crete, Greece, Antonios (aka Andonis) Foniadakis has performed with Bejart Ballet Lausanne under the direction of Maurice Bejart (1994-96), Lyon Opera Ballet under the direction of Yorgos Loukos (1996-2002), and Saburo Teshigawara/Karas under the direction of Saburo Teshigawara (2004). During these years, he also performed works by choreographers Maguy Marin, Jiri Kilian, William Forsythe, Dominique Boivin, Nacho Duato, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin, Frederic Flamand, Bill T Jones, Herve Robbe, Tero Saarinen, Lionel Hoche, Joachim Schlomer, John Jasperse, Alessio Silvestrin and Jo Kanamori. In 2003 Foniadakis created his own company, Apotosoma, based in Lyon, France, for which he choreographed Sensitive Screens Skins Intervals (Kalamata International Dance Festival, Greece, 2003) and Use (Biennale de la Danse in Lyon, France, 2004). Most recently he has created works for Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, Greek National Opera, and Lyon Opera Ballet, among others. His credits also include choreography for two operas: Rameau’s Les Boreades (Opera National du Rhin, 2005) and Claudio Ambrosini’s Il Canto de la pelle (Grame Lyon, 2006). Foniadakis has studied at the State School of Dance, Athens and Rudra Bejart in Lausanne.

By Dion Benetatos

Immensely successful chef Michael Psilakis – whose Anthos is one of only two Greek restaurants in the world to receive the prestigious Michelin star- is a first generation Greek-American true to his roots. Psilakis, who learned his trade growing up in the kitchen alongside his mother, has brought new life to Greek cuisine. Breaking free from the glass-on-the-floor tavernas that are so closely associated with Greek food in the US, Psilakis’ sophisticated twist on classic dishes has the critics abuzz with praise.

As a first-generation Greek-American from Long Island, Psilakis grew up immersed in Mediterranean culture and surrounded by other Greeks (cousins, probably).  Food was the center of day to day life for the Psilakis clan, and the young chef recalls boisterous family gatherings complete with spinach pies, baklava, and, of course, lamb roasting in the back yard. His passion for food began as he helped his mother crumble feta and layer phyllo at Christmas one year, and from there he learned to master the classics. Greek cooking was Psilakis’ childhood pastime, and to this day he takes great pride in his culture and heritage. Without having received any formal culinary training, everything this chef knows he learned from his big fat foodie family.

Chef Psilakis’ flavorful upbringing plays a large role in his affinity for Greek cooking, but it is the American influences that helped shape his creative interpretations on traditional dishes. His wildly popular restaurants are some of the best New York has to offer, but don’t go expecting to order that comforting dish your yia yia used to make on Easter.  You won’t find any form of a recognizable Spanakopita or Mousakka at his restaurants. Without losing the identity of what makes food Greek, Psilakis expands on his mother’s teachings and then some. His is the next generation of Greek standards, the same flavors and ingredients you know, inventively deconstructed for the global audience.  Chef Psilakis brings an adventurous element to Greek cooking that has long kept it detached from the advanced culinary pedigree displayed by other regional cuisines. He is exposing people to Greek food and demonstrating that it can be executed at the haute level. What Jean-Georges and Wolfgang have done for French, Psilakis is doing for Greek. Americans have been familiar with Greek food since the first diners opened in New York City in the 1900s. Ironically, it took a Greek-American to elevate Greek cuisine to take its rightful place as a distinguished culinary art.