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Athan Karras - Obituary

LOS ANGELES - From ΑΗC

It is with a deep feeling of sadness that we inform you of the passing of Athan "Thanasis" Karas on February, 12, 2010. After almost one month of very serious complications from an open heart surgery, the legend "synonymous to Greek Folk Dancing" is dead.

Please join us in extending our most sincere condolences to his family and the entire Greek Folk Dance Community.
Memorial Services will be held as follows:
Trisagion, Wednesday 2/17/2010 - 6:30pm St. Sophia Cathedral
Funeral, Thursday 2/18/2010 - 11:00am St. Sophia Cathedral
In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to the Basil P. Caloyeras Center for Modern Greek Studies at LMU in memory of Athan.

Loyola Marymount University
The Basil P. Caloyeras Center for Modern Greek Studies
1 LMU Drive, Suite 3700
Los Angeles, CA 90045-2659

Condolences can be sent to his widow:

Mrs. Jeanne Karras
19300 Palomar Pl.
Tarzana, CA 91356

Athan Karras - Biography

ATHAN KARRAS' name is synonymous with Greek dance. After dancing with major dance companies and researching Greek dance as an exponent of his career, he successfully produced and presented folklore programs and events in the U.S. and Canada. Mr. Karras is featured in many folk-dance manuals and is represented in the recently produced multi-cultural video by Human Kinetics. Before he passed away, he was an instructor of Greek Dance and Culture at Loyola Marymount University, and was the U.S. coordinator for Mazoxi, an annual Greek dance conference held on the Island of Crete.

In the early sixties, he founded the Intersection Folk Dance Center in Los Angeles, which subsequently became the landmark of folk cultures and a unique center for Greek music and dance.

Mr. Karras paved the way for performers in the U.S. and was instrumental in bringing the Parthenon Dancers of Greece to the U.S. and Canada for several tours. He conducted tours to Greece taking groups to dance festivals along with visits to ancient cites. He also produced and presented several major Greek Festivals at UC Berkeley, UCLA, and Loyola Marymount University and created ethnic folklore programs for the Southern California Heritage Society. He was also the founder and served as Director of Laografia International Greek Folklore Society.
Mr. Karas appeared on Broadway, television, and in motion pictures—starring in one of the first Greek-American films, Dark Odyssey, now available on DVD. He is the author of numerous articles on Greek dance and music that have appeared in several major ethnic and national publications. He also had a regular column on dance in the monthly periodical The Hellenic Journal.
Mr. Karras was a member of the Dora Stratou Greek Dance Theatre and Foundation; the Board of Directors for the AMAN Folk Ensemble; an Advisor and Director of the Folk Dance Programs for the California Traditional Musical Society; lifetime member of The Hellenic University Club of Southern California,.
Among the honors he received were the 2001 Athenagoras Humanitarian Award, The Man of the Year at the Levendia Conference, a Greek Folk Festival in Tarpon Springs to name a few.

Athan Karas, Thanasis as he liked to be called by his friends, passed away on February 12, 2010 after a valiant fight with complications from open heart surgery. He will be missed by his family and friends and he is leaving a terrible void among the Greeks of Diaspora and the International Community of Greek Foldk Dance and Music. May his memory be eternal.