Athan Karras
Athan Karras was a Greek-born American dancer, instructor and actor.Early life
Karras was born in Thessaloniki, Greece. He came to the United States when he was about 12. After serving in the Coast Guard, he studied theater and dance at New York University and eventually joined the Greek National Theater and the Parthenon Dancers, one of the premier Greek Folk Dance troops.Career
In the early 1960s, he founded the Intersection Folk Dance Center in Los Angeles.
For 25 years, Karras taught Greek culture and dance at Loyola Marymount University. He was the U.S. coordinator for Mazoxi, an annual Greek dance conference held on Crete. He also appeared in about 20 films and television projects, staged a number of Greek-language plays in Los Angeles and produced folklore programs and events throughout North America.Death
Karras died on February 12, 2010 at Providence Tarzana Medical Center in Tarzana, California of complications from coronary artery bypass surgery.
