2025 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2025-01-10 10:42
Italian tarantella is a folk dance accompanied by guitar, tambourine, aka tambourine, as well as castanets in Sicily. Its musical size is 6/8, 3/8. There are many legends associated with the history of dance. The frantic pace of the tarantella forces the performer to give all the best, involving new dancers in the action.
History
Italian folk tarantella, since the fifteenth century, for two centuries was considered the only method of curing "tarantism". This was the name given to the madness supposedly caused by the bite of a tarantula. At the same time, the name of both the dance and the spider come from the name of the southern Italian city of Taranto.
For the reasons described above, in the sixteenth century, special orchestras wandered around Italy, patients with tarantism danced to their game. Usually the music of the tarantella was improvised. It is distinguished by a long deployment of the melody, which has large extensions and cadence additions. The dance is often based on one motive or rhythmic figure.
Multiple repetitionthese elements had a hypnotic, bewitching effect on the dancers and listeners. The choreography of the tarantella is ecstatic.
Self-forgetful dance in some cases could last for several hours. His musical accompaniment consisted of the sounds of a flute, castanets, a tambourine and some other percussion instruments. Sometimes such music was accompanied by a voice.
Features
On the ballet stage, the Italian tarantella became famous thanks to the ballet "Tarantula" by Casimir Gide. This work was staged at the Paris Opera in 1839 directly for Fanny Elsler. In 1964 choreographer George Balanchine staged a virtuoso pas de deux based on Gottschalk's tarantella. The main principle of dance is increasing speed. The phenomenon is known to have originated in southern Italy.