Kalymnos Sponge Diver's Dance

Kalymnos has a sponge diving background, having been the center of sponge harvest and trade in Greece since antiquity. Known as the Sponge Diver’s Island, its connection to the marine product has seeped into its culture and traditions, shaping Kaymnos’s identity and affording it a unique reputation.

The traditional dance of Kalymnos is called the Sponge Diver’s Dance and is a prime example of the impact sponge diving has had on the cultural makeup of the island. It is also referred to as the dance of the mechanic, named after the spongers who wore the skafandro, a suit designed to help them stay underwater for longer periods. A byproduct of the implementation of this suit was the emergence of decompression sickness, otherwise known as the divers' disease, which plagued the island for decades and affected the lives of thousands of Kalymnians during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Sponge Diver’s Dance evokes the hardships many islanders faced during these times through a highly emotional performance. The dance is traditionally performed by a group of men, one of whom enacts the role of a sponge diver suffering from the toll that diving has taken on his body. As the others dance in place, the weathered diver looks on, usually sitting on a chair and grasping a cane. At a certain point, he gets up and attempts to join the other men in their dancing. Struggling to keep up, the diver almost falls from exhaustion, before finally being overtaken by the music, throwing away his cane and beginning to dance triumphantly with quick, lively steps, leading the other men for the rest of the dance.

The dance is often performed during many of the island’s annual festivals and panigiria and is a variation of the traditional syrtos dance. It was first choreographed by physical educator Theofilos Klonaris in the 1950s, set to one of the island’s most famous songs about divers from musician Stamatis Hatzidakis. The lyrics of the traditional song are spoken from the perspective of a proud diver who must show bravery and perseverance in the face of the dangers that come with his profession.