CRISS CROSSING CULTURES ITALIAN CULTURAL ITINERARY

DANCE

2018/2019 MAY 13th-17th 2019 Valencina de la Conception - SPAIN

Italian Traditional Dances

Liceo Statale “Vito Capialbi” Vibo Valentia

Italy

and Their Meanings

The Tarantella

The Tarantella

Among the most recognized of traditional Italian dances is the Tarantella.

The Tarantella originated in Southern Italy in the 15th century and has a rich history.

It was originally a dance done by lower and middle-class Italians and was considered a dance that would heal the sick. It later developed into a courtship dance and was performed by young couples.

Later after the farmers’ hard day work in the farm they gathered in the evening to dance and shake off the fatigue and gain some energy for the next day.

Origin of the name

The name tarantella derives from the name of an insect “tarantula” (little spider)

in fact, it is said that a person bitten by a tarantola, because of its pain, began jumping

So, this was the first step of the Tarantella.

Origins of Tarantella

The first dance originated in Naples and spread next to Puglia, Basilicata and Calabria all part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Variants of Tarantella

The specific dance name varies with every region, for instance it is called tammuriata in Campania, pizzica in the Salento and tarantella in Calabria and Sicily.

But there are also different versions found throughout the country in Venice “the Furlana” and in Rome “The Saltarello” which are similar to the Tarantella.

There are three main types of Tarantella

Ballet Master

Courtship Tarantella

Healing Tarantella

1 U mastru di ballu (The ballet master)

The dance is done in male-female couples, man-man and more rare woman-woman, inside a circular space of people defined rota (wheel). U “mastru di ballu” (ballet master) decides the components of the wheel and manages the dance turns. The musicians are part of the wheel and follow the trend of dance with the rhythm.

The rotation is always one and you can not dance out of it. “U mastru di ballu” is usually a respected person in the town, who knows the dynamics and makes the pairs.

2 Tarantella della Guarigione (Healing Tarantella)

Women working in the fields usually wore a skirt without stockings and were often bitten by a small spider called tarantula.

It has been said that this dance was used to get off the poison injected into the body of a person by the bite of a tarantola.

So this is a type of dance therapy.

3 Tarantella del Corteggiamento (Courtship Tarantella)

This type of dance was performed during festivals and even after the end of harvesting and threshing grain and at the end of the wedding parties.

It is a dance reserved to men and women, during which one meets new people, socializes and maybe meets their lover.

Courtship tarantella

The tarantella is most commonly played with some traditional instruments such as: tambourines, mandolin, accordion, guitar, flute, fiddle, clarinet, triccabballacche, bagpipes, and the lyre.

Live Tarantella

The Dance of the Giants

Mata and Grifone

The Giants are an old tradition in Calabria, especially in the province of Vibo Valentia.

They are two tall puppets called Mata and Grifone.

Their faces and clothes are made of bright paper-mache’ and they are placed on the shoulders of the dancers.

Mata Grifone

Origins of the Giants

Concerning their origin there are two versions. The first tells of a Turkish King (Griffin), who during the raids on the coasts of Calabria falls in love with and kidnaps a beautiful girl named Mata.

The second, perhaps more likely to be true, said that the population of Calabria used these giants to ward off the Saracen invasions. It is said that the Saracens, as they approached the coast of Calabria with their ships, seeing these huge Giants move to the sound of drums, turned back in fear.

The Giants today

Today, the Giants are commissioned by the committees of the various religious festivals to parade and dance in the streets to the sound of drums scaring adults and children.

The two giants are dancing, kissing, and courting at the rhythm of the drums.

The “Camejuzzu i Focu”

The “Camejuzzu i Focu” (The Fire Camel)

The "Camejuzzo i focu" is a popular tradition in some localities of Monte Poro Vibo Valentia.

“U camejuzzu” is an imaginary camel built with holes in pipes, inside which you put gunpowder interspersed with small bombs.

This camel is loaded on the shoulders of a man, he lights the fuse and begins to dance to the rhythm of the tarantella

The origins

The dance of Camejuzzu symbolizes the expulsion of the Saracens from the Calabrian coast.

Around the year one thousand, the Saracen pirates landed with their ships and their camels on the Calabrian coast, plundering and robbing the people of the place until they were finally driven out.

The dance

The dance of "Camejuzzo i focu" is a show that attracts a lot of tourists.

The dancer must be very clever, brave and strong. He must have the strength to dance the Tarantella for about half an hour, carrying on his shoulders a weight of about 15 kilograms.

He must not drop the Camejuzzu, because the fireworks instead of going straight up, would be directed at head height and could seriously injure some viewers.

The “Camejuzzu i Focu”

The Tarantella and the Classical Music

La Danza (1835) is a patter song (1) by Gioacchino Rossini, in Tarantella napoletana time. It is the 8th song of the songs, "Les soirées musicales".

It is a stand-alone chamber vocal piece, rather than part of an opera. Franz Liszt transcribed it for piano. Frédéric Chopin used the song as inspiration for his Tarantelle in A-flat, Op. 43.

(1) The patter song is characterized by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of text corresponds to one note.

CRISS CROSSING CULTURES ITALIAN CULTURAL IDENTITY

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May 2019 Liceo Statale “Vito Capialbi” Vibo Valentia - Italy

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Liceo Statale “Vito Capialbi” Vibo Valentia - ITALY May 2019