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The Association for social impact and culture to the municipality of Magnisias organized the largest sirtaki dance in the world. It will be played on the main beach of the town of Volos this Friday, 31 August. The people want to make the largest traditional dance ever held a new record in the Guinness World Records. According to the organizers, over 4,000 people from all over Greece will join it. There are enthusiasts from Volos, Larisa, Athens, Thessaloniki, Trikala and even from the islands of the country. The regional union of blind people, the national synchronized swimming team and many ordinary citizens will also take part in the initiative.

The idea belongs to a resident of the town of Volos, Alexia Halvatzakou who suggested the municipal services an alternative way to promote the area. President of the Association for social impact and culture Costas Halevas liked the idea and set about organizing the event. Children aged eight and people 87 years old will join the sirtaki dance. However, the jury of Guinness will count the participants who are over 14 years old.

Although the dance in Volos is enjoying great public support at present, the original idea for the largest sirtaki dance in the world does not come from the region of Magnisias. The first Guinness record in this "discipline" was recorded on the island of Rhodes in 2009. 1,670 people joined the sirtaki dance then. According to the mayors of the Thessaly region, this has contributed to the popularity of Rhodes and now they want to beat the record in order to make the names of their villages popular too. "The crisis needs imagination. The initiative allows our area to receive worldwide attention with minimum funds," the mayor of Volos Panos Katinyotis told EPT. A large number of international media will broadcast the event via a satellite.
 
The largest sirtaki dance in the world aims to unite the Greeks in one of their most difficult times and to send a positive signal from the country. "The message we want to send is a message of optimism. Even in hard times, Greeks can overcome the difficulties with a positive approach, with a dance. We want to show the world our culture and our way of thinking," Halevas told for the online edition Neotypos. He stressed that a sirtaki dance that flows from the hearts of people, embraced together and clomping to the beat of the music will not change the hard reality, but will send a message of unity and sense of belonging.

Rehearsals for the final performance take place both on the town beach and the Pantesalikos  stadium in Volos. The big sirtaki dance in Volos will be held on Friday, at the night of the second full moon in August. The enthusiasts will come together at 9:30 pm and the feast of sirtaki dance will begin in the sound of the music composed by Mikis Theodorakis. This time, the dance will not be performed by Anthony Quinn, but by the modern Greeks who want to remind the world of them with a positive note.