Tarantella
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Tarantella – brief history
Tarantella is a folk dance with Italian specificity. It brings together different dances.
traditional characterized by a brisk pace in six or eight beats, accompanied by a background
instrumental of tambourines usually played by women. Tarantella is thus the most popular and
widespread traditional Italian music, being specific especially to the southern region of Italy.
The name Tarantella comes from the Italian region of Taranto, known for
the presence of a spider called a tarantula, depending on the region, the insect being known for
its venomous bite causes a hysterical condition called tarantism. Those bitten by a tarantula
they were treated through a kind of exorcism through dance, a practice that dates back to the year 1100 BC. Some
specialists have called this type of dance a practice of a Dionysian cult that was quickly
abolished by the Roman Senate. Tarantism has its roots in ancient Greek myths, where it is
described as a therapeutic dance performed by entire communities of people who all seemed intoxicated with
dancing, jumping, screaming, singing and spinning for hours, while the music seemed the only form of
combat epidemic.
Today, the tradition of this dance remains alive thanks to local young artists who have been ...
over time they have modified the rhythm, making it more alert, but with the same hypnotic effect if it is
danced for a long time. Over time, the Tarantella dance has been diversified and enriched with a
variety of shades. Young couples, for example, perform a short but graceful dance.
elegant by musical characteristic. The dance of the two usually mimics courting or fighting with
spadele, when partners were of the same sex. The Neapolitan tarantella is therefore a dance
addressed to couples, characterized by rhythm, gestures and songs with very distinct accents, originating from
from a fusion between Fandango and the Spanish Moresque. On the other hand, the dance Tarantella with
healing properties was danced by a single person, presumed to be the victim of the bite
tarantulas. The dance was one that could last for hours or even days in some cases. This
dance tip with magical-religious features is performed by presumption to cure delirium and
contortions associated with the effect of the venom. Local legend says that a person bitten by
the spider was forced to dance to a frantic music and rhythm to eliminate the venom through
sweat.
Traditional Tarantella is still practiced today by many groups such as: Cantori di
Carpino, Officina Zoe, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, Selena Culpinoș i and others. Tarantella is
usually sung with a mandolin or guitar, accompanied by accordion and tambourine. They are not lacking.
neither the flute, trumpet, clarinet nor other wind instruments. Among the well-known composers
the composers of tarantellas include: Chopin, Corigliano, Debussy, Franz Liszt (Tarantella,
Venice and Naples), Heller, Prokofiev (Children's Music), Rachmaninoff, Rossini (The Dance),
Schubert, Henry Squire, Igor Stravinsky (Italian Suite) and others.
