Bayside, N.Y. -- The Aradzani Dance Group of the Armenian Church of the Holy Martyrs will present on Saturday April 25, at 7:00 p.m., a program of pre-1915 dances of the indigenous Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Christians of Asia Minor.

When the ancestors of today's Turks arrived in Asia Minor from Central Asia starting in the 11th century, the area was mostly made up of Christians. Prior to 1915 there were approximately six million Christians in Asia Minor. The Christian population today in Turkey is about 100,000. This program is a tribute to their culture and is in memory of the Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks who lived there.

The Aradzani Dance Group will present dances from the Vaspouragan (Van), Garin (Erzurum), Dikranagerd (Diarbakir), and Kharpert (Mamouret El Aziz) regions of pre-1915 Eastern Asia Minor (Historic Armenia). Aradzani will also present a pre-1915 Assyrian dance called the Sheikhani from the southern part of Van province. The dance ensemble will dance to the live music of the Tarpinian Ensemble with vocalist Lisa Tarpinian.

The Aradzani Dance Group is an ethnographic dance group with a repertoire of more than 120 unchoreographed Armenian pre-1915 dances of Historic Armenia. Many of the dances Aradzani performs are almost extinct.

The Greek American Folklore Society will present Greek dances from the pre-1915 Anatolian regions of Cappadocia, Pontus, and Smyrna (Izmir). The Greek American Folklore Society is dedicated to the study, preservation and instruction of the history and traditions of Hellenic folk culture.

The Hye Bar Dance Group of The Armenian Church of the Holy Martyrs will present dances from pre-1915 regions of Musa Ler and a medley of a dance called "Lorke Lorke," danced throughout Eastern Anatolia. Hye Bar is a youth dance group under the direction of Mary Demirjian. One of its performances was at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. The dances of Hye Bar are choreographed by Gagik Karapetyan, an international authority on Armenian dance.

Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for students with ID; it is free for children under 10. Refreshments will be served. The program will take place in Kalustyan Hall, Armenian Church of the Holy Martyrs, 209-15 Horace Harding Expressway.

In addition to the April 25 program, Aradzani will hold a dance class with Tom Bozigian of California, an authority on ethnographic Armenian dance, on Sunday, May 3, from 1 to 4 p.m. and Monday, May 4, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

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