Alkis Raftis

Profile of Alkis Raftis

Alkis Raftis was born in Athens. His family lives there since 1860, his grandfather and great grandfather were bakers in Plaka, the old town under the Acropolis. Both his parents and other members of his family played leading roles in the Resistance during the Nazi occupation.

He speaks 6 languages and holds degrees from 4 universities (Engineering, Sociology, Political Sociology and Management) in Athens and in Paris. After being a senior executive in American multinational corporations, he served as professor at universities: Patras School of Engineering, Patras School of Education, Paris-Dauphine and Paris-Sorbonne. He has given lectures in another 20 universities. He served as Vice-Governor of the ETBA national investment bank, and finally decided to concentrate on dance.

He carried out ethnographic research on traditional dancing in villages, historical research on Greek dance in Antiquity and Byzantium, as well as research on dance in world art and poetry. Prof. Raftis is considered the leading authority on dance in Greece, as well as on dancers around 1900 such as Isadora Duncan and La Belle Otero. He has researched the history of dance in the Eastern Mediterranean before 1900. His Orchesis Portal is an important tool for dance historians.

He has authored more than 20 books on dance, culture and management, and more than 100 articles. He has edited another 30 books, 11 CD-ROM volumes, 6 CDs, 2 DVDs and a bi-monthly review with over 110 issues.

Dr. Raftis is currently president of the International Dance Council CID at UNESCO, Paris. Since 1987 he is president of the national Dora Stratou Dance Theatre and Company in Athens.

Personal website: http://www.alkisraftis.orchesis-portal.org/