Dimitris Papazoglou was a guest on the show “Rendezvous at the weekend” on Saturday morning (4/4), with most of the conversation dealing with the recent loss of his close friend Marinella.
The well-known choreographer shared his memories of the great performer, who “passed away” at the age of 87 last week.
“There was like a fate from long ago that connected me to this woman. When I was 11 years old, where I lived in Egaleo, there was a jukebox that had pictures of Kazantzidis and Marinella. I had no attraction to Kazantzides. I was like, this girl wearing this and these butterfly glasses, she did something to me. And I got up from Egaleo and went to Tzitzifies to see her in person,” Dimitris Papazoglou describes to Lambros Konstantaras and Ioanna Maleskou.
“Then, she breaks up with Kazantzidis and appears at the Park Theatre. I go to see her alone and she was singing George Katsaros’ “Tonight I lose a soul”. That’s coming through. At the theatre where I was, Kostas Kafasis, who did Marinella, gets sick and they make me do Marinella… Third! That goes too.
I say to Castrinos, “Will you take me to Old Athens to see the programme? He says “yes”. And she walks past me through the crowd and I get her cologne. I’ll never forget it, I was mesmerized, shaking. It passes, too.
Fourth. I’m in Paris, dancing in the Alcazar de Paris. The largest surreal cabaret on the planet. Every day, there were celebrities downstairs, Bardot, Taylor, Betty Midler. And an announcement says, “Tonight, with us, is a great Greek singer, Marinella.” “No way! Where? How?” so I look up and I see her. Our finale was down in the audience. I go downstairs, I say, “What are you doing?” “Hey, are you Greek?” That’s where our acquaintance begins,” the dancer recounts.
“When I came back from Paris in the summer, I went and saw her at the Fairy Tale. And there when I saw her, like a bang happened inside me and an incredible world opened up, which was closed. I can’t explain it to you. It was like a bang inside of me and something opened up that I didn’t see or feel seeing her on the dance floor. I’ve felt it twice. Once with Marinella and once with Liza Minnelli when I saw her at the Palladium. A big thrill,” confesses Dimitris Papazoglou.
“I came back after Paris. Her hairdresser, Dimitris Souleles, we were friends, neighbours. So I would go and see her at Zoom. I would get excited about all this magic. I think it starts with her family. I admire Marinella’s family. I appreciate her as a mother, as a sister, as an aunt. She was always there for her family and her friends.
She has supported me. First of all, she was a great artist, Marinella. She had talent from top to bottom. Marinella brought what every artist should be to the live show. It’s a journey that you bring to the audience and it’s not just your repertoire. The tango I danced with her in the ’90s. She went to the World Cup in Argentina. She calls me up and says: “Hey, get ready to do a tango.” Up until then, we thought the tango was for young people. There he saw that there were so many ages that could dance the tango.
Marinella was not stagnant. When we were dancing the tango, at one point I see a leg stand up on its own… She kept adding things. One night I was holding her, and she decides to put her leg here and turn on one leg. She was taking initiative. I didn’t teach her that. She wouldn’t stop at all.
One day we were talking, and she says to me: “Let me tell you something, my Dimitraki. Since this is going well… Rather than waiting for my death at home, I’d rather die on stage,” Dimitris Papazoglou revealed on the morning show on OREN.
@ellada24gr Dimitris Papazoglou on Marinella: She told me “rather than waiting for my death at home, I’d rather die on stage” #greeknews #newsfeed #ellada24 #foryou #foryoupage #greektiktok #tiktokgreece #fyp #tiktokgr #ελληνικοτικτοκ #φοργιου #lifsstyle #lifestylenews ♬ original sound – Ellada24
