Filimonas Michalakis was born in 1982 in Dimylia, Rhodes, where from an early age, he developed a close connection with the island’s traditions. His involvement with Greek traditional dance began in elementary school, when he started attending classes at his village’s cultural association and participating in local celebrations and festivals.
He studied at the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science in Athens, specializing in Greek traditional dances, and later completed the postgraduate program “Dance Studies” at Democritus University of Thrace. His postgraduate research focused on the Sousta of Rhodes, with particular emphasis on the local variations found in the villages of Soroni, Kremasti, and Asklipio. His thesis was presented at the 7th Conference on Sports Tourism, Dance, and Recreation at the School of Physical Education and Sport Science in Komotini, highlighting the distinctive style of the Sousta and its connection to the cultural identity of the island’s communities.
From 2007 to the present, he has taught Greek traditional dances in cultural associations in Soroni, Kremasti, Koskinou, Dimylia, and the former Municipality of Kamiros in Rhodes. Since 2025, he has led the Greek traditional dance department of the Municipality of Rhodes, further strengthening his contribution to preserving and promoting the local dance tradition.
He has participated in festivals, performances, and dance seminars throughout Greece and abroad. Internationally, he has taken part in festivals in France, Sicily, Cyprus, and Spain, where he also taught dances from Rhodes and the Dodecanese in workshop settings. In Greece, he has participated in numerous festivals and events in Crete, Thessaloniki, the Peloponnese, Epirus, Evia, Athens (at the Dora Stratou Theatre), Drama, Naoussa, and many islands of the Dodecanese.
He has also appeared in numerous television programs on local Rhodes TV, as well as on national channels such as ERT, ANT1, Alpha TV, and SKAI, contributing to the promotion of the dances and cultural heritage of Rhodes to a wider audience.
At the international experiential seminar Kyriakos’ Rodos Project 2025, he taught dances from Kremasti and Soroni.
Through his teaching, research, and artistic activity, Filimona continues to preserve, transmit, and promote the dance tradition of Rhodes to both young and adult students, placing particular emphasis on local style and the cultural identity of the island.
This is his first appearance in Canada and in Klironomia.