Journalist Marina Soteriou is a long-term London resident. Writing as part of our World in London series, Marina adds her experiences of Cypriot culture in the capital.

Every Thursday evening at a church hall in Waterloo, a group meet to perform dances which have been danced for centuries. They are the Philhellenes Dancing Group.

I joined nearly three years ago as I wanted to feel closer to my family on the other side of Europe, in Cyprus. The only thing I can remember from my dancing class at primary school in Nicosia was somebody finding a centipede in their shoe, but last October I performed seven Pontic dances at the annual Dance Around the World Festival at Cecil Sharp House in Regents Park.

The group has been running for 21 years, and has performed in Cyprus, Athens, Lesvos and Andros. In London, they’ve danced at the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican and the British Museum.

Cypriots love a debate and since the so-called “Cyprus problem” has remained unsolved since 1974 – as a result of a Turkish invasion which followed a coup by the junta ruling Greece at the time – we are never short of a topic. Following the division, thousands of Cypriots came to live in London, when the Greek Cypriots fled to safety in the south and the Turkish Cypriots went north.

My grandfather, Andreas Soteriou, was from the beautiful village of Agios Epiktitos in the Kyrenia district in the North, perched high with breathtaking views of the coast. But being born in 1982, these lands were not known to me. The Cyprus I knew stopped abruptly where the rusty barbed wire and UN soldier was. The bullet holes in the Nicosia church we went to every Sunday morning were testament to the violence which was followed by decades of stalemate.

It was not until 2003 when the border crossings opened that the link with my ancestors could be restored and I could visit the house where my grandfather was raised, see his father’s grave and share gifts and stories with the Turkish Cypriot neighbours.

There is something restorative in folk dancing, knowing these intricate steps, double steps and jumps have been replayed for thousands of years and that now is just another dot on the timeline. Although we do not know what the future holds for Cyprus, we know these dances will survive.

Whenever I go back to Nicosia, one of the first things I like to do is go to Ledra Street in the city centre and buy a Papaphilippou ice cream and do as the locals do and promenade.

On one such visit, the first thing I saw was a group of Pontics in traditional costume performing their dances in the public square, the very same dances I have performed with my Bulgarian, Greek, English and Cypriot friends in the church hall in Waterloo on a rainy Thursday night.

For another slice of Cyprus, you can choose one of the many Cypriot restaurants all over London, but I prefer the hive of activity at the Yasar Halim Bakery in Haringey. The bakery was opened by a Turkish Cypriot in 1981 and has everything you can imagine, from the sweet Tahini tachinopites, to the Cypriot doughnuts dipped in syrup, “loukoumades”, which are eaten with the semolina-filled shiamishi at fairs.

To join the class or attend a Greek folk dancing workshop visit www.philhellenes.com or email greekdancing@philhellenes.com. The next Dance Around the World folk dancing festival, which has performances and workshops, takes place on 20 and 21 October. Visit www.datw.org.uk to find out more.

Do you know any other instances where you can sample Cypriot culture in London? Let us know in the comments below.

The London 2012 Olympic Flame will travel through six London boroughs next year before reaching the Olympic Stadium.

The Torch Relay will visit:

• Waltham Forest (21 July)
• Bexley (22 July)
• Wandsworth (23 July)
• Ealing (24 July)
• Haringey (25 July)
• Westminster (26 July)

The Flame will arrive at the Olympic Stadium on 27 July for the lighting of the cauldron at the Opening Ceremony, signifying the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The nationwide tour will begin at Land’s End in Cornwall on the morning of 19 May 2012 and will take 70 days to travel 8,000 miles around the UK.

During this time, the Flame will be carried by 8,000 torchbearers including sports people, celebrities and members of the public.

The Relay will travel for approximately 12 hours every day, culminating in evening celebrations when it arrives at each destination.

For more information visit www.london2012.com/olympictorchrelay

For our World in London blog post for Turkey, I spent a sunny Friday afternoon creating a photographic essay of Green Lanes in Harringay, a heavily Turkish-influenced area in North London. (Harringay is a locality in the borough of Haringey).

From restaurants serving up lamachun, pide and kebabs, to travel agents, to supermarkets, to Turkish barbers, Green Lanes is a lively mix of Turkish treats (you’ll also find plenty of Greek and Polish shops, a Bulgarian restaurant and a Somalian cafe!)

You can see these photos and more, plus add your own to Visit London’s flickrpool.

And please tell us about about anything Turkish in London, in Green Lanes or elsewhere, you’ve come across in the comments below.