Italian tarantella is a folk dance, which is accompanied by a guitar, tambourine, it is also a 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 his best, involving new dancers in the action.
Story
Italian folk tarantella, starting from the fifteenth century, for two centuries was considered the only method of curing "tarantism". This was the name of madness, caused, as suggested, by a bite of a tarantula. The name of the dance and the spider comes from the name of the southern Italian city of Taranto.
For the reasons described above, in the sixteenth century, special orchestras traveled around Italy, and Tarantism patients danced under their play. Usually tarantella music 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 a rhythmic figure.
Repeated repetition of these elements had a hypnotic, bewitching effect on dancers and listeners. Tarantella choreography is ecstatic.
Selfless dance in some cases could last for several hours. The musical accompaniment consisted of the sounds of a flute, castanet, 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 the tarantella Gottschalk. The main principle of dance is increasing speed. This phenomenon is known to have arisen in southern Italy.