Traditional Italian Dancing

To see a beautiful display of Sorrento's cultural roots through the elements of song and dance, go see the Tarantella Show at the Cinema Armida Theatre. This show portrays the region's rich culture and traditions from the 19th century. Watching the performance live was amazing as it was full of song and dance for an hour and fifteen minutes. The show was extremely interactive as they had the audience chime into the songs at different points. The dancers and singers would also come into the audience and have us clap along to the beat.

History of the Tarantella Dance

The tarantella is one of the traditional dances of Italy that dates back to the 15th century and it is one of the most famous Italian folk dances. There was a myth starting in the 18th century that the movements of this dance were used by Sirens to bewitch Ulysses and others think it it was to celebrate the god Dionysius.

Tarantella is known as the dance of the spider because it began as a cure for a condition called tarantism which was thought to be a poisonous spider bite. The spider's victim was usually a woman and she would start to dance along with fast-tempo music in order to "expel" the venom from her system. She would begin by dancing convulsively or entering a delirious state as if she was being possessed. Then to save her from the spider's venom, the musicians started to perform a fast-paced type of music called pizzico (means "bite" in Italian). The music would awaken the tarantara (the girl) from her trance or she would dance for hours or even days along with the music to get rid of the venom from her body. The dance is more like a manifestation of a psychological cure rather than a true physical remedy.

The types of instruments that were used to create this music include mandolins, guitars, and tambourines. This dance originated in Taranto, a city in Puglia.

It was a way for disadvantaged women to express the emotions they felt due to few rights, high mortality rates, earning lower wages compared to their male counterparts, and being married off without a choice. The dance was a way to show their rage, sadness, and desires without fear of judgement since it was viewed as unacceptable to show these emotions. This dance became very popular all around southern Italy including Sicily, Calabria, and Campania. Over time the tarantella evolved into a dance performed by couples to flirt with each other.

This dance is often danced at weddings in the U.S., but in Italy many dance groups perform this dance with it regional variations for contemporary audiences in order to keep the tradition of dance and music alive in modern times.

To learn the steps check out this website.

If you want to watch more of the Tarantella Dance, check out this video.

To buy tickets to see the Traditional Tarantella Show, follow this link.

Dances from other parts of Southern Italy

Ischia - in Ischia they have a traditional folk dance called 'Ndrezzata which comes from the word intrecciata or "the braid". The braid is meant to represent the tangle of swords and sticks that are held by the 18 men who perform this dance. Some people even call this dance "the Sword Dance" as it was a symbol of establishing peace between the buonopanesi and the baranesi (which are the inhabitants of the areas Buonopane and Barano in Ischia). This dance is performed on Easter Monday.

There are different theories as to where this dance originated from because some claim it was from Greek origin due to the archeological finds, while others have said it rooted in Spain. The first costume for this dance was created in 1930 and it was inspired by the fishermen who had poor fabrics which had to be double-sewn in places and had extra buttons and strings to hold the old materials together. The colors of the Italian flag are incorporated into the costumes with red vests, green belts, and red/white hats.

The dance is broken into three sections: the parade, the sermon, and the dance itself where the main movements include a greeting, hits, blocks and dodges as if they were sword-fighting. The typical instruments used in this dance are an accompaniment of clarinets and drums. Click here to watch.

Salento - The dance from this region is called Pizzica or "pinch" and it comes from the Salento peninsula which is in the region of Apulia. It is similar to the Tarantella dance where a victim, who is almost always a woman, needs to be saved through the ritual of dance and music from the bite of a taranta. However, this dance became a heritage of the Salento community and is often danced in pairs of women and men, women together, and sometimes men together if he is playing the role of a woman. The women tend to hold a red scarf in their hands as they dance as a sort of a prop.

Click to here watch.