Documentary Gives Insider's Insight Into Tarpon Springs Culture

DUNEDIN, FL — Those who missed the premiere of the independent film, "Dancing as One: The Greek Community of Tarpon Springs," last March in Tarpon Springs will have another chance to see the film this weekend.

"Dancing as One: The Greek Community of Tarpon Springs," filmed and directed by Tarpon Springs husband-and-wife team Kostas Lekkas and Beeba Christopoulos-Lekkas, will be presented Sunday, Jan. 12 at noon at the Dunedin Art Cave, 351 Albert St., Dunedin, as part of the Dunedin International Film Festival featuring dozens of short and feature films submitted by independent filmmakers from around the world.

"Dancing as One: The Greek Community of Tarpon Springs" is the first feature-length film by the couple who own Lekkas Photography and Video in Tarpon Springs.

Beeba Christopoulos-Lekkas was born and raised in Tarpon Springs, a third generation resident. Her maternal grandfather, Michael Billiris, started the St. Nicholas sponge diving exhibition at the city's Sponge Docks.

She developed her passion for photography while in middle school after an uncle gave her an old 35 mm camera. From that day on, Christopoulos-Lekkas said she rarely left home without the camera.

"Photography's all I've ever done," she said.

After graduating from Tarpon Springs High School in 1990, Christopoulos-Lekkas studied photography at the respected Rochester Institute of Technology's College of Photographic Arts and Sciences in New York and then headed to the University of Miami for her master's of fine arts in photography.

Afterward, in a journey countless young adults in Tarpon Springs have taken before her, she headed to the Greece, intending to spend a year exploring the homeland of her ancestors.

"But a year turned into 10 years," said Christopoulos-Lekkas.

While in Greece, she met her future husband, Kostas, a photographer and videographer. Naturally, they tied the knot in a traditional Greek wedding ceremony and had two children. Eventually, they relocated to Tarpon Springs where they opened their photography studio in 2008.

Kostas and Beeba Lekkas

For the past 12 years, Christopoulos-Lekkas, a lifelong member of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Tarpon Springs, has been the Greek community's photographer of record. She and her husband volunteer their time documenting the city's Greek festivals and cultural events, including the nationally recognized Epiphany celebration during which dozens of teen boys dive to retrieve a wooden cross in a time-honored Tarpon Springs tradition.

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Christopoulos-Lekkas, also a photography instructor at the Art Institutes in Tampa and the Clearwater campus of St. Petersburg College, has exhibited her photographs featuring Tarpon Springs' Greek culture at area museums.

That's how she met Tina Bucuvalas, the city’s curator of arts and historical resources. Bucuvalas encouraged Christopoulos-Lekkas and her husband to make a documentary about Tarpon Springs' unique Greek culture and helped the city obtain grant funding for the project from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Florida Humanities Council.

"There have been a lot of documentaries on the sponge-diving industry in Tarpon Springs," said Christopoulos-Lekkas. "But sponge-diving is only a small part of the Greek community in Tarpon Springs. We wanted to take a look at what makes us who we are from an insider's perspective, the traditions that are important to us as a community."

The city, which has the highest percentage of residents of Greek heritage in the United States and prides itself on being the most authentic Greek community outside of Greece, is one of the few cities in America where the Greek language is commonly spoken in grocery stores, restaurants and in church services.

"We’ve really held on to our ethnic identity," said Christopoulos-Lekkas. "We tend to prefer to speak Greek to each other and have intertwined the Greek culture into the life of the city.'

While many American immigrant communities have lost touch with their ancestral roots, she said Tarpon Springs' Greek community has maintained its connection with the homeland since the city was founded on Feb. 12, 1887.

"As generations go on, you run the risk of forgetting unless you make a conscious effort to pass those traditions on," said Christopoulos-Lekkas.

It's that strong cultural heritage that earned Tarpon Springs a No. 3 ranking in USA Today's 2019 10Best Reader's Choice Awards for small towns with a rich cultural heritage and resulted in Tarpon Springs being named Best Historic Small Town in America in USA Today's 2018 Best Readers's Choice Awards.

With Kosta Lekkas as the videographer, his wife directing and Bucuvalas producing, the 50-minute documentary focuses on several residents whose lives revolve around the community's religious customs, sponge-diving industry, food, music and dancing.

"I feel like it really gives others an understanding of who we are and what we believe in," said Christopoulos-Lekkas. "At the same time, it reminds our own residents of what we have and tend to take for granted. It reminds us to continue to pass our heritage on to future generations."

More than 500 residents crowded into the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral’s Spanos/Pappas Community Center March 14, 2019, for the premiere of the film.

"It was really an incredible response," said Christopoulos-Lekkas. "People in the audience were laughing and crying at the same time."

More information on the documentary's screening is available on the Dunedin International Film Festival website.