Dr. Maria Bougiesi will present a lecture an online-only lecture entitled Greek traditional dance, an alternative form of exercise and an inexhaustible source of well-being, on Thursday 24 March, at 7 pm, as part of the Greek History and Culture Seminars, offered by the Greek Community of Melbourne.
In recent years, there has been greater research interest shown in the quality of life and health matters pertaining to dance. Greek traditional dance has been proposed as an alternative form of exercise for preventing and improving a variety of parameters in older adults, like gait balance and cognitive function, as well as stress and emotional management in all ages.

Greek traditional dance is intricately linked with  Greek culture and folk traditions, while for  Greeks living abroad in the diaspora, it remains an important way of connecting with their heritage and engaging with their identity. Research has shown that Greek traditional dance has a lot to offer both from a cultural and quality of life perspective. The presentation will discuss the relationship of dance and mainly Greek traditional dance with quality of life and health issues since it is an inexhaustible source of well-being and cultural richness
emanating from common people.
Maria Bougiesi has graduated from the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science of the University of Thessaly, Greece and her Masters was in ‘Sports Psychology’ at the same university, in conjunction with the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, and the University of Leuven, Belgium. She continued with Ph.D. in Greece and the University of Magdeburg, Germany where she worked in cognitive function improvement through dance and exercise in older adults.

Maria uses Greek traditional dance as a means of the quality of life and health promotion.  She has collaborated with cardiologists organizing proper exercise programs through dance focusing on cardiac function improvement. She has been teaching Greek traditional dance in Greece and abroad during her studies, and since 2020 she has been
teaching Greek traditional dance at the University of Thessaly. Maria has presented her research at both international conferences and her motto is: ‘Our life is a dance whose rhythm and melody is determined by us’.