Italian folk dance
Italian folk dance
Main page
1112401

Italian folk dance

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
Read side by side
Italian folk dance
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia
The saltarello

Italian folk dance has been an integral part of Italian culture for centuries. Dance has been a continuous thread in Italian life from Dante through the Renaissance, the advent of the tarantella in southern Italy, and the modern revivals of folk music and dance.

History

[edit]

Middle Ages

[edit]

The carol or carole (carola in Italian), a circle or chain dance which incorporates singing, was the dominant Medieval dance form in Europe from at least the 12th through the 14th centuries. This form of dance was found in Italy as well and although Dante has a few fleeting references to dance, it is Dante's contemporary Giovanni del Virgilio [it] (floruit 1319–1327) who gives us the earliest mention of Italian folk dance. He describes a group of women leaving a church in Bologna at the festa of San Giovanni; they form a circle with the leader singing the first stanza at the end of which the dancers stop and, dropping hands, sing the refrain. The circle then reforms and the leader goes on to the next stanza.[1]

Boccaccio

[edit]

However, it is Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) who illustrates the social function of dance in the Decameron (about 1350–1353). In Boccaccio's masterpiece, a group of men and women have traveled to a countryside villa to escape the Black Death and they tell a series of stories to while away the time. There are also social activities before and after the stories which include song and dance.[1][2] After breakfast at the beginning of the first day:

"E levate le tavole, con ciò fosse cosa che tutte le donne carolar sapessero e similmente i giovani e parte di loro ottimamente e sonare e cantare, comandò la reina che gli strumenti venissero; e per comandamento di lei, Dioneo preso un liuto e la Fiammetta una viuola, cominciarono soavemente una danza a sonare; [107] per che la reina con l'altre donne insieme co' due giovani presa una carola, con lento passo, mandati i famigliari a mangiare, a carolar cominciarono; e quella finita, canzoni vaghette e liete cominciarono a cantare. [108]"[3]
"Breakfast done, the tables were removed, and the queen bade fetch instruments of music; for all, ladies and young men alike, knew how to tread a measure, and some of them played and sang with great skill: so, at her command, Dioneo having taken a lute, and Fiammetta a viol, they struck up a dance in sweet concert; [107] and, the servants being dismissed to their repast, the queen, attended by the other ladies and the two young men, led off a stately carol; which ended they fell to singing ditties dainty and gay. [108]"[4]

For each of the ten days, song and dance are part of the storytellers' activities—at the end of the sixth day:

"[037] E poi che bagnati si furono e rivestiti, per ciò che troppo tardi si faceva, se ne tornarono a casa, dove trovarono le donne che facevano una carola a un verso che facea la Fiammetta..."[5]
"[037] Then, as the hour was very late, they did but bathe, and as soon as they had resumed their clothes, returned to the ladies, whom they found dancing a carol to an air that Fiammetta sang..."[6]

And further after storytelling on the seventh day:

"intorno della bella fontana di presente furono in sul danzare, quando al suono della cornamusa di Tindaro e quando d'altri suon carolando. [009]"[7]
"they presently gathered for the dance about the fair fountain, and now they footed it to the strains of Tindaro's cornemuse, and now to other music. [009]"[8]

The dance passages in the Decameron show that the carol was always sung but could be accompanied by instrumental music as well, both men and women danced, although women seem to dance more often than men, and all knew how to dance.[1]

Boccaccio also uses two other terms besides carola to describe the dances done, danza and ballo. Some scholars assume that all the terms are synonymous since the dance forms are given no distinctive description,[9] but others take these to mean separate dances and trace the names forward to the Renaissance dances bassadanza and ballo.[2]

Dance in the countryside

[edit]

These descriptions from Boccaccio are, of course, all of townsfolk dancing but the Decameron also gives at least a glimpse at peasant dances as well. In the second story of the Eighth Day about the priest and Monna Belcolore, of the latter the story says:

"e oltre a ciò era quella che meglio sapeva sonare il cembalo e cantare L'acqua corre la borrana, e menare la ridda e il ballonchio, quando bisogno faceva, che vicina che ella avesse, con bel moccichino e gentile in mano. [010]"[10]
"Moreover she had not her match in playing the tabret and singing: "The borage is full sappy", and in leading a brawl or a breakdown, no matter who might be next her, with a fair and dainty kerchief in her hand. [010]"[11]

The two terms for dance that Boccaccio uses, ridda and ballonchio, both refer to round dances with singing.[12][13] Another variant of the round dance with song is the Righoletto, known from Florence and the surrounding countryside in the 14th and 15th centuries[12]

Istanpitta and others

[edit]

In a 14th-century Italian manuscript in the British Library (Add. 29987), folios 55v-58r and 59v-63v, contain 15 monophonic pieces of music, the first eight of which are labeled istanpitta. Of the next seven pieces, 4 are called saltarello, one trotto, one Lamento di Tristano, and the final one is labeled La Manfredina. These are the only known examples of instrumental dance music from Italy in the Middle Ages and all of them have similarities to earlier French dance pieces called estampie.[14][15]

There is divided opinion on the question of whether the estampie / istanpitta was actually a dance or simply a musical form. Curt Sachs in his World History of the Dance[16] believes the strong rhythm of the music, the name, which he derives from a term "to stamp", and literary references point to the estampie definitely being a dance. Vellekoop, on the other hand, looks at the evidence and concludes that estampie was simply a name for early instrumental music.[15]

The other seven dances in the manuscript have the same general musical structure as those labeled "istanpitta" but are simpler and probably more suitable for dancing.[14] Saltarello is a dance name found in later centuries as well but the later examples may not refer to the same dance as these 14th-century pieces.[17] The last two dances in the manuscript, Lamento di Tristano and La Manfredina are notable as being pairs of related dances, a scheme which became common in Renaissance dance.[14]

Depictions of dance

[edit]
Lorenzetti 1338–40

One of the earliest known depictions of Italian folk dance is part of a set of frescoes at the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (about 1285–1348). Part of his Allegory of Good Government (Effetto del Buon Governo) painted about 1338–40 shows a group of nine dancers, all women and accompanied by another woman singing and playing on the tambourine, executing a "bridge" figure where dancers go under the joined hands of the two lead dancers.[1]

Andrea Bonaiuti

Another 14th-century illustration comes from the Florentine painter Andrea Bonaiuti (1343–1377). One of his series of paintings The Church Militant and Triumphant (Chiesa militante e trionfante) done in 1365 at a chapel in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence also shows women dancing accompanied by a woman on tambourine.[1]

Renaissance

[edit]

It can be seen in Simone Prodenzani's Liber Saporecti (or Il Saporetto), published 1415, which describes music and dance at an imaginary court, and from other works, that in the early 15th century the direction of transmission of dance forms was from the popular folk dances of the towns and countryside to the courts of the nobility. But a new attitude appears at court which elevates dance to an art form.[1] In the Medieval period, no writer describes dance steps or figures, it being assumed that everyone knew how to dance.[2] By the early Renaissance the simple circle and chain dances of the earlier centuries still exist—there are references to the round dance (ridda) and dancing in circles as late as the early 16th century in Straparola's Le piacevoli notti (The Facetious Nights of Straparola).[18] But we also find that couple dances and mimetic elements now appear and formal choreographies emerge for the first time. This new Art of the Dance can especially be seen at the major courts of Milan, Padua, Venice, Florence, Bologna, Pesaro, Urbino, and Naples.[1]

Dance manuals

[edit]

With dancing elevated to new heights, dancing masters make their appearance at court and the first dance manuals are known from the middle of the 15th century.[19]

  • Domenico da Piacenza: De arte saltandi & choreas ducendi. De la arte di ballare et danzare (mid-15th century)
  • Antonio Cornazano: Libro del'arte del danzare (about 1455)
  • Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro: De practica seu arte tripudii vulgare opusculum (about 1463)
  • Fabritio Caroso: Il Ballarino (1581) Venice
  • Fabritio Caroso: Nobilita di Dame (1600) Venice
  • Livio Lupi: Mutanze di gagliarda, tordiglione, passo e mezzo, canari e passegi (1600) Palermo
  • Cesare Negri: Le Gratie d'Amore (1602) Milan & reissued as Nuove Inventione di Balli (1604) Milan

The three 15th-century treatises divide their dances into two types, the bassadanza and the ballo,[19] possibly related to the earlier simple dance forms of Boccaccio's time.[2] The bassadanza, allied to the similar French basse dance, is a slow dignified dance without leaps or hops, while the ballo was a livelier dance often containing pantomimic elements. The terms saltarello or piva were sometimes used for more sprightly versions of the ballo. The dances are for couples, holding hands or in lines.[19][20] Dances in the manuscripts were often given rather fanciful names, e.g. Lioncello, Gioioso and Rosina, which are often found in more than one work and occasionally as dance names in later times as well.[19][21]

Late Renaissance dance

[edit]

In the late 16th and early 17th century manuals of Caroso and Negri, a variety of dance types can be seen: slow processional dances, longways, various dances for single couples and even a few for trios or five dancers. All are social dances for both sexes with the men's steps being more athletic than the women's. In all the dances the upper body is kept erect, the arms are quiet and there is little movement above the waist.[22]

Dance suites usually started with a walking sequence, pavana, a term often found in the music of the time but almost never in dance manuals. The passo e mezzo (lit. 'step-and-a-half') seems to have been a faster variant of the pavana. The faster, athletic gagliarda often followed the pavana but was also done as a separate dance. Other similar fast afterdances were the tordiglione and the saltarello (another term seen more often in music than dance descriptions). Further types were the spagnoletta and the canario with its unique stamping patterns.[23]

Some of these names are seen again in the 1588 poem about life in Naples, Ritratto ... di Napoli by Gian Battista del Tufo (about 1548–1600) where dances such as Spagnoletta or Tordiglione, and Rogier, Lo Brando, and Passo e mezzo are mentioned but not described. But he does tell of a dance with Arab influence and movements from Malta, the Sfessania. Some decades later we find Villanella, and once again Ruggiero, Sfessania and Spagnoletta in Giambattista Basile's collection of Neapolitan fairy tales, the Pentameron (published 1634–36). No reference is made in either work to the name which would later be the definitive dance of Naples, the tarantella, but Bragaglia thinks that the Sfessania can be regarded as the ancestor of that dance.[13]

Even by the late Renaissance and the elaborate choreographies of Caroso, a link between court dance and country or folk dance can be seen. Elements of folk dance invigorate courtly dances and folk dances take over movements and styles from courtly dance. The difference between the two forms was probably one of style and elegance.[22]

18th & 19th centuries

[edit]

By the 18th century, the name "tarantella" appears in illustrations and travelers's accounts in southern Italy. When the German writer Goethe describes the tarantella which he saw performed in Naples during his trip to Italy in 1786–87, it appears as a dance for women only, two girls dancing with castanets accompanied by a third on the tambourine.[13][24] Madame de Staël had also traveled in Italy and in her 1817 novel Corinne, or Italy, she has her heroine dance the tarantella as a solo.[25][26] But the tarantella as a couple dance telling a story of love in mime does appear in a description by Orgitano in the middle of the 19th century.[27]

Also appearing in illustrations and texts is the saltarello as a rustic dance of Romagna, central Italy. This is a name which also appears in the earliest Italian dance music and throughout the Renaissance. It is not clear, however, that these various mentions represent the same or even related dances.[17]

In the north, in Venice, there was the "wild courtship dance", known as Furlana or Forlana, which was danced by Giacomo Casanova in 1775.[28]

References to figure dances similar to English country dances and French Contradanses also appear as early as the first part of the 18th century. Dances of this type from the 18th and 19th centuries in Italy include La Contraddanza, Quadriglia and Il Codiglione.[13] A letter from the English writer and politician Horace Walpole dated 1740 from Florence declares, "The Italians are fond to a degree of our country dances."[29]

Dance research

[edit]

One of the earliest attempts to systematically collect folk dances is Gaspare Ungarelli's 1894 work Le vecchie danze italiane ancora in uso nella provincia bolognese ('Old Italian dances still in use in the province of Bologna') which gives brief descriptions and music for some 30 dances.[30]

In 1925, Benito Mussolini's government set up the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro (OND) or National Recreational Club as a means of promoting sports and cultural activities and one of its accomplishments was a wide survey of folk music and dance in Italy at that time. The work was published in 1931 as Costumi, musica, danze e feste popolari italiane ('Italian popular customs, music, dance and festivals'). In September 1945 OND was replaced by a new organization, the Ente Nazionale Assistenza Lavoratori (ENAL), headquartered in Rome. In partnership with the International Folk Music Council, ENAL sponsored a Congress and Festival in Venice September 7–11, 1949 which included many of the outstanding researchers in Italian folklore as well as folk dance and music groups from various Italian regions.[31][32]

ENAL was dissolved in late 1978 but earlier in October 1970, the Italian folklore groups who had been members of ENAL set up a separate organization, which in 1978 became the Federazione Italiana Tradizioni Populari (FITP). The FITP publishes a newsletter and a scholarly publication Il Folklore D'Italia.[33]

Some prominent 20th-century Italian folk dance researchers are Anton Giulio Bragaglia, Diego Carpitella, Antonio Cornoldi, Giuseppe Michele Gala, Bianca Maria Galanti, Giorgio Nataletti, Placida Staro and Paolo Toschi. (see Bibliography)

An interest in preserving and fostering folk art, music and dance among Italian Americans and the dedication and leadership of Elba Farabegoli Gurzau led to the formation of the Italian Folk Art Federation of America (IFAFA) in May 1979. The group sponsors an annual conference and has published a newsletter, Tradizioni, since 1980.[34]

Folk dances by region

[edit]

Northern Italy

[edit]
Regions of Italy

Northern Italy refers to the regions of Aosta Valley, Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and Trentino-Alto Adige.

  • Monferrina: Monferrina is a dance in 6
    8     time originating in the Piedmont district of Monferrat but now widespread in northern and central Italy. It has a two-part structure, promenade followed by a couple figure.[35][36]
  • Girometta: peasant couple dance of Bologna in 2
    4     time in three parts, a promenade around, the dance proper, and a final turning figure.[37]
  • Giga: in this 6
    8     rhythm dance, the couples make two promenades and then begin the dance proper: hand-in-hand two steps forward, then change hands and go two steps backward; the couple then interlaces arms and dances, then the man raises his arms with the woman turning underneath them to separate and begin the dance over.[35][38]
  • Ruggero: this dance in 2
    4     rhythm is done by two men and two women in the form of a diamond, with the men opposite the women. One couple makes four promenade tours around, the woman then stops to form a group with the second couple who then all circle around. They then separate and go to the first man and make another tour returning to place. The dance begins again with the other couple starting the figures.[35][39]
  • Galletta: a rustic dance in 6
    8     time from the province of Bologna. In the Valle di Reno it is done with one man and two women, one on each side of the man, while in Valle di Savenna the dance is for two men and two women, the men in the center, back-to-back, with their partners in front of them.[40]
  • Veneziana: well-known dance of Bologna done by four dancers or sometimes more (in Pianora), accompanied by a song. The formation is a diamond when done by four dancers or two facing rows of men and women when more than four take part. Men and women cross over to each other's positions during the dance.[41]
  • Bergamasca: the Bergamasca is known from Romagna as a dance for a single couple but another type uses three couples. Ungarelli describes a third type in 2
    4     time with turning figures.[13][42]

Weapon dances

[edit]

Several types of weapon dances are known from Italy, the mock battle (Moresca), sword dances and stick dances. A number of these are from the Piedmont region of northern Italy:

  • Spadonari di San Giorgio: a sword dance done for the festival of San Giorgio in the Piedmont village of San Giorio di Susa. There is a historical prologue section, followed by the sword dance proper, and then a procession and banquet. The six swordsmen, selected from the best looking men in the village and costumed in white with red vertical bands and black felt hats with flowers, are armed with a large, slightly curved sword. There are five figures to the dance all performed to a drum roll in march rhythm:
1) With a leap, the dancers turn in the air and move into a square formation and shake their swords
2) With a short leap, the points of the swords are joined on the ground, then again at shoulder level
3) They return to place and drag the swords on the ground making a furrow
4) With four synchronized leaps, all turn east, west, south, and north
5) The swords are exchanged by throwing them in the air
The dancers then march off to the drum.[43][44]
  • Spadonari di Venaus: a sword dance from Venaus in the Val di Susa done for the feast of San Biagio. Four men clothed in a fastastic imitation of medieval warriors perform with large two-handed swords. The dance lasts about an hour and has only a few figures: raising the sword in salute, circling the sword in the air, striking the sword of their adversary and throwing the swords in the air in exchange.[43]
  • Spadonari di San Vicenzo: done for St. Vincent's Day (January 21) in the village of Giaglione in Val di Susa, four swordsmen in plumed helmets take part in a procession which finishes at the piazza where a mock fight is held.[43]
  • Bal dâ Sabbre: a sword dance from Fenestrelle in Piedmont done for the feast of San Luigi (August 25). The dance is done by 16 spadonari preceded by two Heralds and a drummer and followed by a Harlequin and a "Turk". This is not a mock combat but a point-and-hilt type sword dance with typical "rose" figures which imprison the Harlequin. In the second part of the dance, the swords are dropped, and colored ribbons attached to a pole are taken up and woven into braids.[35][45]
Lachera group
  • Lachera: this dance, from the town of Rocca Grimalda in Piedmont, is a transformed weapon dance. According to tradition, it derived from a revolt against the medieval tyrant Isnardo Malaspina. An engaged couple are accompanied in the dance by an escort of two masked Lacheri who do a characteristic dance with high leaps. Also present are three armed figures, two guerrieri and a zuavo.[35][43]

Friuli

[edit]

The region of Friuli has been a crossroads for different cultures throughout the centuries. The inhabitants are mostly Italian speaking as well as the local Friulan language but German and Slovenian are also spoken in some areas.[35][46][47]

La Furlana, Pietro Longhi (1750—1755)
  • Furlana: widespread couple dance in 3
    4     time with several variations throughout Friuli. It usually involves a handkerchief and several figures which can be seen as flirtation, courting, fighting and making-up.
  • Vinca or Bal Del Truc: a couple dance in 2
    4     which alternates a skipping figure with a mock scolding with stamping, clapping and finger pointing. The dance is almost identical with a number of other folk dances from Central and Eastern Europe.
  • Lavandera: the Lavandera or the "Washerwoman" is a couple dance in 2
    4     rhythm with two parts, one with the women miming washing movements while the men strut like roosters and the other a type of antique polka.
  • Quadriglia di Aviano: a dance in square formation for four couples in 2
    4     rhythm. In the pattern of the dance, the head couples change places followed by a figure where all the men proceed to the women on their right, do a turning figure with them and then go on to repeat this with the second woman to their right. The side couples then exchange places and the men repeat their travel figure which brings them back to their original partner.
  • Torototele: dance done by several couples, the women with a flower in one hand which they use to menace the man.
  • Stajare: a dance originally from the Austrian province of Styria done by the nuptial couple at a wedding. A semicircle of pairs are arranged around the central couple. In the countryside, the dance is typically done in the granary as the only place large enough to accommodate relatives and friends. The dance, in waltz time, consists of an invitation to the dance and then the dance proper, accompanied by a four-part song.
  • L'esclave: couple dance widespread in Friuli, partners approach and move away, the woman, holding her apron in her hand, turns while the man circles, snapping his fingers, the dance ending with a series of turns.
  • Resiana or Resianca: the Val Resia region of Friuli is an island of Slavic language and culture in Italy.[48] In his 1848 study Joseph Bergmann ("Das Thal Resia und die Resianer in Friaul", in: Anzeige-Blatt für Wissenschaft und Kunst 71, 1848, pp. 46–50) describes the Resianka of Val Resia as one done with a row of men opposite a row of women where the partners move back and forth toward and away from each other and then dance in place,[49] always turning on the toes and never touching their partners. The woman holds the ends of her apron or a handkerchief while the man holds the front of his jacket or vest.[35]

South Tyrol

[edit]

South Tyrol is an autonomous province of Italy with a majority German-speaking population. The dance culture is similar to that of southern Germany and the Austrian state of Tyrol with such typical dances as Ländler, Schuhplattler, Dreirtanz, Schustertanz, Bregenzer and Masolka.[50][51]

  • Schuhplattler: this couple dance with its characteristic men's slapping patterns is known in Germany in Upper Bavaria and in Austria. The traditional area of the Schuhplattler in South Tyrol includes Passeier Valley, Sarntal, Eisacktal, Puster Valley and Drautal. The dance could still be found in its original setting until the 1930s in some areas but is now limited to performing groups.[52]
  • Ländler: Ahrntaler Ländler, which represents an older form of the Ländler, was recorded in 1940 in the villages of St. Jakob, St. Peter and Prettau in the Ahrntal.
  • Siebenschritt: this very widely spread couple dance is known from various parts of Europe. It was recorded as still surviving in Passeier Valley in 1941, in de:Florutz in Fersental in 1937 and in Lüsen in 1941.[51]
  • Knödeldrahner
  • Boarischer: the Boarischer is known in a number of different forms in Austria and in South Tyrol. Recently the dance has been described in Tauferertal and Ahrntal.[51]

Central Italy

[edit]

Central Italy refers to the areas of Tuscany, Marche, Umbria, Lazio, Abruzzo, and Molise.

Saltarello performance in Marche
Folk dance from the comune of Fossalto, Molise
  • Saltarello romagnolo[53]
  • Saltarello laziale[54]
  • Lu Sardarellu: widespread in central Italy but typical of the Marches. The dance, done by a single couple at a time, has three sections a) lu spondape where the man stamps while the woman dances in place b) lu filu where the dancers approach side-by-side while stamping, going forward and back to place c) lu fru with the dancers dancing around in a circle.
  • Laccio D'Amore: an ancient traditional Maypole-type dance from Penna Sant'Andrea in Abruzzi, usually for twelve couples. The dance has several parts beginning with the men and women meeting and going in a procession with the pole. This is followed by a saltarello-style dance by the couples and then a round dance where the men (unsuccessfully) court the women. A circle is then formed around the pole, the dancers take the colored ribbons and dance a weaving figure. The ritual ends with a leave-taking dance. In the modern version, a polka precedes the weaving figure.[35][55]
  • Trescone: a very old dance from Tuscany in a lively 2
    4     rhythm done by four couples in a square. The women dance lightly and demurely in place while the men make rapid turns and pass from one woman to another in a bravura fashion. The dance may be done in the open air at agricultural festivals or by guests at a wedding. When done at weddings, a ring of singers surrounds the four dancing couples, often improvising salacious verses about the married couple. The dance is also found in Emilia and other areas of central Italy in several different forms.[35][56]
  • Tresconeto: a fast dance from Tuscany in 6
    8     time resembling the saltarello. The dance is usually done by a single dancer or couple and the continually increasing tempo of the dance is meant to test the endurance of the dancers. It was known in the villages of the Lunigiana district performed especially on the first Sunday of Lent.[35][56]

Southern Italy

[edit]

Southern Italy refers to the regions of Campania, Apulia, Basilicata, and Calabria.

Performance of Vallje in San Basile, Calabria
  • Tarantella napoletana
  • Tarantella calabrese
  • Ndrezzata: the name of this dance comes from intrecciata, the braid. It is a specialty of Buonopane, a part of the comune of Barano d'Ischia, on the island of Ischia. Migrants to the Americas brought the dance to New York, where it was done on the streets in 1916 and 1917, and to Buenos Aires in 1924. In its classic form, the dance has 16 dancers, with men and women taking an equal part in the dance which is accompanied by drum, flute, and song. The men carry a small stick in their right hand and a wooden sword in the left, the women reverse this. The dance is in two parts, with seven tableaus in each part, and consists of a crossing and interlacing of blows of the sticks and swords.[35][43]
People performing the Pizzica
  • Pizzica: traditional dance (in 2
    4     time) of simple structure from the Apulia region.
  • La Pecorara or A'Pasturara: traditional dance from Calabria in 6
    8     time done to bagpipe and accordion accompaniment by one or two couples. Steps are usually close to the ground with occasional small leaps. The man, with arms akimbo keeps all his attention on the woman who holds her dress in her right hand with her left bent sharply at the hip.[35]
  • La Vala: a dance of the Arbereshe Albanian ethnic group in Calabria done in a single circle with men and women holding hands, belts or a basket-weave hold; or there may be two circles, one of men and one of women. The dance is accompanied by songs of the Albanian national hero Scanderbeg.[35]

Insular Italy

[edit]

Insular Italy refers to the regions of Sicily and Sardinia.

Sicily

[edit]
  • Tarantella siciliana
  • Taratata: a religious sword dance from Casteltermini danced at the feast of the Holy Cross, held on the last weekend of May. A large procession, mostly on horseback, is led by a corps of 20 or so dancers who are all from the ceto of flax carders. The dancers each carry two curved swords or scimitars, the right-hand sword being used for combat while the left hand one produces the rhythm, ta-ra-ta-ta, which gives the dance its name.[43]
  • Contraddanza

Sardinia

[edit]
Performance of ballu tundu in Gavoi, Sardinia
  • Ballu tundu: a closed or open circle dance also known as "ballu sardu", this ancient form is found all over Sardinia in many variations.[35]

Other

[edit]

Istria

[edit]
See also: Istrian Italians

The peninsula of Istria, today part of the countries of Croatia and Slovenia, belonged to the Republic of Venice (Venetian Istria) from the 13th century to 1797, and became a margraviate of the Austrian Empire in the 19th century. Later, Istria belonged to Italy from 1919 to 1947. Local ethnic Italians (Istrian Italians) made up about a third of the population in 1900,[57] number that decreased further after the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus (1943–1960). Italian cultural influence has resulted in the resemblance of many Istrian dances to those of northern Italy. This applies to dances done by the modern day Croatian population and by the Italian national minority found today in the larger towns and some villages in the western part of Istria. Dances done by both the Croatian and the Italian communities include Molferina or Mafrina and Kvadrilja. Dances specific to the Italians include La Veneziana, Bersagliera, Denci, and more importantly the very similar dances Vilota and Furlana.[58]

Austrian linguistic map from 1896. In green the areas where Slavs were the majority of the population, in orange the areas where Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians were the majority of the population. The boundaries of Venetian Dalmatia in 1797 are delimited with blue dots.
  • Furlana: as danced by the Italian community in the town of Vodnjan (in Italian Dignano), this is a dance for six people consisting of two trios with one man between two women. The dance in 6
    8     rhythm is composed of three figures done to accompaniment by violin and cello.[58]
  • Sette Passi: in this dance from Sveti Lovreč (in Italian San Lorenzo del Pasenatico) the man and woman face each other, embrace and then take three side-steps to the left, to the right and again to the left, then placing hands on shoulders make a full turn or two and start the dance over.[35]

Dalmatia

[edit]
See also: Dalmatian Italians

Dalmatia is today part of Croatia but belonged to the Republic of Venice (Venetian Dalmatia) from 1409 to 1797, and became a kingdom of the Austrian Empire in the 19th century. Later, the Dalmatian city of Zara with other small local territories belonged to Italy from 1920 to 1947. During the World War II, from 1941 to 1943, Italy annexed a large part of Dalmatia, including it in the Governorate of Dalmatia. Dalmatia, especially its maritime cities, once had a substantial local Italian-speaking population (Dalmatian Italians). According to Austrian censuses, the Italian speakers in Dalmatia formed 12.5% of the population in 1865,[59] but this was reduced to 2.8% in 1910,[60] number that decreased further after the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus (1943–1960).

  • Moresca: the Moresca as a weapon dance and pageant portraying a battle between Christians and Saracens was known in Italy at least as early as the 15th century but seems to have died out by the middle of the 19th century. It still exists on the Dalmatian coast in Croatia as Moreška but the battle here is between the Moors and the Turks. The dance is known from Split (in Italian Spalato), Korčula (Curzola) and Lastovo (Lagosta). There are differing accounts of the origin of the Dalmatian dance, some tracing to Italian and others to Slavic roots.[43] Andrea Alibranti has proposed that the first appearance of the dance in Korčula came after the defeat of the corsair Uluz Ali by the local inhabitants in 1571.[61]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Italian folk dance

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Italian folk dance refers to a diverse collection of traditional dances rooted in Italy's regional cultures, characterized by rhythmic movements, communal participation, and accompaniment by live folk music, often performed during festivals, weddings, and rituals to celebrate life events and preserve heritage.[1] These dances vary widely across the peninsula, influenced by historical migrations, ancient rituals, and local folklore, with southern styles emphasizing energetic, improvisational steps and northern forms featuring more formalized patterns.[2] The origins of Italian folk dances trace back to medieval and Renaissance periods, evolving from pagan rites, agricultural cycles, and social customs, with many documented in 16th-century treatises and preserved through oral transmission in rural communities.[1] Over centuries, external influences such as Greek, Arabic, Celtic, and Slavic elements shaped regional styles, particularly in the south from Mediterranean contacts and in the north from Alpine exchanges.[2] Today, these dances serve as living expressions of identity, with revival efforts by cultural groups ensuring their continuity amid modernization.[3] Regional variations highlight Italy's cultural mosaic: in northern Italy, dances like the Furlana from Venetia mimic lovers' quarrels through mimed gestures and lively steps in 6/8 time, while the Monferrina in Piedmont draws from Bacchic traditions with vigorous jumps and group formations.[1] Central regions feature the Saltarello, a national toe-tapping dance originating in Latium and Marche, known for its hopping motions and binary rhythm that imitates galloping horses in the Galloppa.[1] In southern Italy, the Tarantella from Puglia and Sicily stands out for its frenetic, swirling patterns in 3/8 or 6/8 meter, historically linked to exorcising tarantula bites through exhaustive movement, now symbolizing flirtation and vitality in couples' performances.[3] Islands like Sardinia add unique chain dances such as the Duroduro, forming serpent-like lines to evoke ancient communal bonds.[1] Common instruments include the tambourine, accordion, mandolin, and guitar, driving the polyrhythmic energy that distinguishes Italian folk dance from courtly forms.[2] Culturally, these dances foster social cohesion, with women often central in southern traditions like the Tarantella, providing outlets for expression in patriarchal settings.[3] Preservation initiatives, including festivals and educational programs, highlight their role in safeguarding Italy's intangible heritage against globalization.[2]

Characteristics

Forms and styles

Italian folk dances are broadly classified into couple, group, and solo variants, each characterized by distinct formations and interaction patterns that facilitate social bonding or individual expression. Couple dances, such as the volta and bergamasca, typically involve a man and woman in close proximity, emphasizing paired movements like turning and balancing to support high jumps or spins. Group dances, including the farandola and tresche, form chains or lines where participants hold hands or link arms, creating serpentine or circular patterns that weave through communal spaces. Solo variants, like certain renditions of the tarantella, allow for independent performances focused on personal flair, though they may integrate into larger group contexts.[4] Core movements in these dances incorporate hopping, turning, and hand-holding patterns, which dictate body posture and footwork. Hopping steps, prevalent in dances like the saltarello, involve light leaps on the toes that convey agility and elevation, often executed in sequence to maintain momentum. Turning motifs, seen in the volta, require upright posture with arms extended for balance, enabling pirouettes or circling that promote fluid rotation and partner synchronization. Hand-holding facilitates chain formations in group dances such as the tresche, where dancers grip palms or wrists to pull and release, influencing lateral shifts and collective propulsion. These elements adapt to the dance's scale, with solo hopping emphasizing vertical bounce and group turns fostering horizontal flow.[4][5][6] Rhythmic structures underpin these movements, with ternary meters (such as 3/4 in waltz-like dances) encouraging swaying postures and gliding footwork, while binary meters (like 6/8 in gigue-inspired forms) drive staccato steps and sharper accents. In ternary rhythms, dancers adopt a lilting rise-and-fall through the knees, aligning body weight with the triple pulse for smooth transitions. Binary structures, conversely, promote crisp, alternating foot placements that quicken the tempo, compelling upright torsos and rapid directional changes to match the duple beat. These rhythms interchange fluidly in some dances, blending to heighten energy without disrupting form.[5][7][8] The tarantella exemplifies improvisational spins within a ternary or binary framework, where dancers execute frenetic rotations and quick foot changes to mimic the erratic convulsions of a spider bite in folklore, engaging the lower body in rapid, asymmetrical patterns for cathartic release. Similarly, the monferrina features quadrille-like figures, with couples performing cross-steps and bent-knee promenades in hand-held pairs, incorporating mimed teasing through bows and coaxing gestures that structure the dance into sequential formations. These examples highlight biomechanical demands, such as accelerated lower-limb coordination in the tarantella to simulate expulsion of venom, contrasting with the monferrina's controlled, symmetrical advances.[4][5][9][8] Italian folk dances distinguish between secular recreational forms, which prioritize communal joy through repetitive steps and formations, and those with theatrical elements, such as the moresca, where groups enact mock battles between Christians and Saracens using choreographed clashes and processions to symbolize conflict resolution. In the moresca, dancers mime sword combats in paired or group lines, integrating leaps and turns to dramatize opposition before unifying in harmony, elevating the performance beyond everyday recreation.[10]

Music and instruments

Italian folk dance is accompanied by a rich array of traditional instruments that vary by region, reflecting local craftsmanship and cultural influences. In southern Italy, the zampogna, a double-chanter bagpipe made from animal skin with wooden pipes and reed drones, provides a droning bass and melodic lines, often played by shepherds during pastoral and festive occasions.[11] The chitarra battente, a wire-strung guitar with five courses (the lower four triple and the highest double), typically tuned in re-entrant fashion (e.g., A-D-G-B-E-A), is struck with a plectrum to produce rhythmic strums supporting vocals and dances in southern regions like Calabria and Sicily.[12] The tamburello, a frame drum with jingles, delivers sharp percussive accents essential for driving dances such as the tarantella, and is prevalent across southern Italy where it is believed to hold therapeutic qualities in ritual contexts like pizzica.[13] In central and northern areas, the accordion (organetto), introduced in the 19th century, became widespread for its portable bellows and keyboard, enabling polyphonic accompaniment in emigrant communities and ballroom styles.[2] The violin adds lyrical melodies to ensemble playing, particularly in southern pizzica traditions, while the hurdy-gurdy (ghironda), a wheel-fretted string instrument cranked to sustain continuous tones, features in northern folk repertoires like those of Emilia-Romagna for its buzzing timbre evoking medieval sounds.[14] Musical modes in Italian folk dance emphasize non-tempered scales that lend distinctive emotional qualities, diverging from the major-minor tonality of classical music. Modal structures, such as Dorian (with its flattened third and seventh) and Mixolydian (flattened seventh), predominate in many repertoires, creating haunting or exuberant atmospheres; for instance, over 70% of documented Sicilian folk songs are modal, influenced by ancient Mediterranean traditions.[15] Lydian modes occasionally appear, as in vocal lines clashing with accordion harmonies in southern pieces. In Sardinia, pentatonic scales—often five-note subsets of the diatonic scale—infuse dances with an archaic, pastoral resonance, derived from pre-Roman influences and adapted in launeddas pipe ensembles.[16] Rhythmic patterns underpin the kinetic energy of Italian folk dances, with percussion and stringed instruments dictating tempo shifts. The tarantella typically unfolds in 6/8 time, featuring compound duple meter with a "long-short-long-short" pulse that accelerates to evoke frenzy, propelled by tambourine rolls in southern variants.[2] In contrast, liscio, a smoother ballroom style from northern Romagna, employs 3/4 waltz time for flowing couple dances, often with accordion leading steady triple beats. Percussion, such as the tamburello, drives ritual accelerations in dances like pizzica, where tempo builds through layered rhythms to simulate trance states.[13] Tunes for Italian folk dance are preserved through oral transmission, allowing regional variations and improvisation that keep the tradition dynamic. Melodies evolve via communal performance, with musicians adapting phrases on the spot; in central Italy, duets between the piffero (a conical shawm) and ciaramella (a single-reed pipe) exemplify this, where players alternate calls and responses in pastoral processions, incorporating spontaneous ornaments.[17] This improvisatory practice, rooted in ancient work songs and festivals, ensures tunes like those for tarantella mutate across generations without written notation, fostering local dialects in sound.[15]

Costumes and attire

Italian folk dance costumes feature distinct components for women and men, crafted from natural fabrics that reflect local craftsmanship and availability. Women's attire commonly includes embroidered skirts known as gonnella, colorful shawls, and fitted corsets, utilizing materials such as wool for durability in cooler climates, lightweight linen for everyday wear, and delicate lace for decorative accents.[18][19] Men's garments typically consist of vests, knee-length breeches, and wide-brimmed hats, often made from the same wool and linen blends, with occasional leather elements for functionality.[18][19] These elements emphasize practicality while allowing freedom of movement essential to the dances. Symbolism plays a key role in the choice of colors and accessories, conveying cultural and social meanings. In southern regions, vibrant reds symbolize fertility, vitality, and prosperity, often adorning skirts and shawls to evoke life's abundance.[20][19] Veils or headscarves distinguish marital status, with unmarried women wearing lighter, flowing versions to signify availability and youth.[19] Accessories such as small bells attached to hems or ankles and flowing ribbons on skirts enhance the rhythmic quality of performances, producing auditory and visual cues that sync with the music's tempo.[21][22] Over time, the materials and construction of these costumes evolved from homemade textiles in rural communities—spun and woven by local families using available fibers—to more standardized versions during 20th-century folk revivals.[19] These revivals, driven by cultural preservation efforts, incorporated urban fashion influences like refined embroidery techniques and synthetic dyes, transforming traditional attire into polished ensembles for festivals and performances while retaining core symbolic motifs.[19][23] Attire also highlights gender and role distinctions, with women's elaborate layers contrasting men's simpler silhouettes to underscore partnership dynamics. In couple dances, leaders may wear prominent sashes or belts that mark their guiding position, facilitating coordinated steps and turns.[18] Regional stylistic differences, such as heavier wool in the north versus lighter, brighter linens in the south, further personalize these ensembles.[19] The costumes integrate seamlessly with dance movements, their flowing fabrics accentuating spins and gestures.[22]

History

Origins and medieval period

The origins of Italian folk dance lie in the cultural practices of Etruscan and Roman antiquity, where communal movements served religious, ritualistic, and social purposes. Etruscan influences are evident in tomb paintings from the 6th to 4th centuries BCE, such as those in the Tomb of the Triclinium at Tarquinia, depicting lively group dances with musicians playing pipes and lyres, often symbolizing joy in the afterlife and potentially foreshadowing later circle formations in folk traditions.[24] Roman adaptations incorporated these elements into saltatio, energetic jumping dances performed in religious cults like the Salii's tripudium—a three-step ritual invoking divine favor—and balli, circular group dances linked to fertility rites.[24] Archaeological evidence from North Italy, including 1st-century CE votive reliefs at sites like the Ara delle Matrone in Angera, shows intertwined female figures in chain-like dances associated with the Matres/Matronae cult, illustrating early communal forms that persisted in rural settings.[24] Pompeii frescoes from the 1st century BCE further depict Bacchanalian balli with swirling groups, blending Etruscan vitality with Roman spectacle.[25] In the Middle Ages, from the 13th to 14th centuries, Italian folk dance evolved distinctly between rural peasant traditions and urban courtly expressions, amid a landscape shaped by feudal society and ecclesiastical influences. Rural areas favored simple chain dances, performed in circles or lines during harvest festivals, reflecting communal bonding and agricultural cycles, as inferred from surviving instrumental forms like the istanpitta—lively, rhythmic pieces from late 14th-century manuscripts such as the London Codex (British Library, Add MS 29987), which imply energetic stomping and turning steps.[26] These istanpitta, the earliest documented Italian dance music notations dating to around 1340–1390, feature duple meter and ornamented melodies suitable for group participation, bridging folk improvisation with emerging notation practices.[26] In contrast, noble courts developed more refined basse danse, a gliding processional form emphasizing measured steps and poise, often accompanied by vielles or lutes.[27] Literary and artistic records from the period highlight this divide while capturing dance's vitality. Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron (c. 1353), set against the backdrop of the Black Death, vividly describes carole—ring dances with singing and hand-holding—as recreational pastimes among the fleeing nobility in the countryside, and mentions estampie, a stamping couple dance derived from French forms but adapted in Italian settings for flirtatious interplay.[27] Frescoes from the era, such as those in the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena (c. 1337–1340) by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, portray ten women in a carole, hands linked in a chain, symbolizing civic harmony and contrasting peasant simplicity with courtly elegance; similar round dances appear in Tuscan art, evoking Giotto's contemporary scenes of communal gatherings in Padua's Scrovegni Chapel (c. 1305), where musical ensembles suggest rhythmic movement.[28] These depictions underscore dance as a social equalizer, blending rural chain forms with noble basse danse in visual narratives of daily life. Festivals like Carnival played a crucial role in sustaining these dances during the 14th-century plagues, providing outlets for cathartic expression amid widespread mortality. In regions like Tuscany and Lombardy, pre-Lenten carnivals incorporated chain dances and estampie to mock authority and affirm community resilience, helping preserve oral and performative traditions when formal gatherings were disrupted by quarantines.[29] The istanpitta notations around 1400 mark a pivotal shift, offering the first verifiable records that captured these evolving forms for posterity, distinct from earlier verbal transmissions.[26]

Renaissance and early modern developments

During the Renaissance, Italian folk dance began transitioning from primarily oral traditions to more documented forms through the emergence of influential dance treatises that codified steps and formations. One seminal text was Guglielmo Ebreo's De Pratica seu Arte Tripudii (1463), which detailed the basse danse—a gliding, low-to-the-ground processional dance—with precise instructions on steps like the reverenza (bow) and passo naturale (natural step), alongside geometric arrangements of dancers in circular or linear patterns to evoke harmony and proportion inspired by humanist ideals.[30] This manual preserved thirty-six choreographies, often set to measured music, reflecting a blend of courtly refinement and regional folk elements, and marked an early effort to systematize dance as an art form.[31] Complementing this, Antonio Arena's Ad suos compagniones studiantes (ca. 1529) addressed law students in macaronic Latin and described rustic villanella dances alongside basse danse, emphasizing lively, improvised group movements that captured provincial customs while advising on social etiquette to bridge elite and popular spheres.[32] Courtly adaptations further hybridized folk traditions into precursors of ballet, incorporating energetic and theatrical elements into spectacles. The moresca, a mock sword dance mimicking battles between Christians and Moors, integrated acrobatic leaps and clashing rhythms from southern folk practices into Renaissance court entertainments, often performed by groups of six to eight dancers with a jester figure for comic effect.[33] By the late 16th century, the gagliarda (galliard) emerged as a vigorous counterpart, featuring high leaps and hopping sequences that showcased male athleticism, drawing from folk saltarelli while being refined for aristocratic display in manuals like those of Fabritio Caroso.[34] These integrations elevated folk motifs into structured performances, influencing the development of professional dance troupes. The advent of printing and Renaissance humanism facilitated the wider dissemination of these dances beyond courts to provincial and urban settings, fostering a cultural exchange that enriched folk practices. Printed treatises, such as Ebreo's and Arena's, circulated through workshops in Venice and Florence, allowing regional variations to adapt courtly steps into communal events like Venetian carnivals, where masked processions featured improvised balli (group dances) blending elite choreography with local exuberance.[35] This spread democratized dance knowledge, as humanist scholars emphasized bodily movement as a reflection of classical harmony, prompting folk communities to incorporate geometric formations into festivals. Artistic depictions from the era further illustrate these developments, embedding dance motifs into visual culture to symbolize renewal and social unity. Sandro Botticelli's Primavera (c. 1482) portrays the Three Graces in a circular dance formation, their flowing garments and linked hands evoking the basse danse's graceful interconnections and Renaissance ideals of proportion derived from folk-inspired rituals.[36] Similarly, the rise of commedia dell'arte in the late 16th century popularized acrobatic folk steps through itinerant troupes, where characters like Arlecchino performed tumbling and leaping sequences rooted in regional traditions, influencing public perceptions and perpetuating these elements in everyday entertainments across Italy.[37]

18th-19th centuries

In the 18th century, Italian folk dance experienced significant foreign influences, particularly from French styles, as the controdansa (contradance) gained popularity across social strata. This dance form, documented in early treatises such as Antoine Dufort's 1728 work, incorporated elements of the French minuet, adapting its graceful steps and formations to Italian contexts while allowing for flexible participation by varying numbers of dancers.[38] Amid the rise of opera in urban centers like Venice and Milan, which dominated elite entertainment, folk dances such as the furlana persisted in rural and popular settings, as depicted in Carlo Goldoni's comedies like The Servant of Two Masters, where Venetian folk balls featured lively group dances reflecting everyday community life.[39] These traditions remained resilient in isolated agrarian areas, contrasting with the sophisticated operatic spectacles that overshadowed them in cities. The 19th century brought profound socio-political shifts through the Risorgimento, the movement for Italian unification, which elevated folk dances as symbols of national identity and cultural unity. Dances like the saltarello, a lively central and southern Italian form known for its jumping steps, were embraced in patriotic festivals, embodying regional vigor and contributing to a sense of shared heritage amid fragmentation.[40] Scholars such as Vittorio Imbriani actively collected folk songs and associated dances in regions like Naples during this era, preserving oral traditions that intertwined music and movement as expressions of emerging nationalism.[41] The 1861 unification reinforced the role of folk dances in fostering collective identity across newly integrated territories.[42] Urbanization and European immigration introduced ballroom styles like the waltz and polka to Italian cities, particularly in the north, where they blended with local forms in middle-class gatherings, creating hybrids such as the liscio tradition in Romagna.[43] In contrast, rural and mountain communities, such as those in the Apennines, maintained isolated traditions like the tarantella, resisting urban cosmopolitanism and preserving intricate, ritualistic steps tied to agricultural cycles. Mass emigration to the Americas, peaking from the late 19th century, carried these dances abroad, where they evolved; for instance, the tarantella in U.S. Italian communities was often simplified into a performative wedding circle dance, emphasizing rhythmic clapping and basic footwork over original improvisational elements.[44]

20th century research and revival

In the early 20th century, scholarly efforts to document Italian folk dances gained momentum through systematic collections and recordings. Diego Carpitella, an ethnomusicologist, collaborated with Alan Lomax in 1954–1955 to record approximately 100 hours of folk music and associated dances across Italy, from Sicily to the Alps, capturing performances by contadini, shepherds, and fishermen that preserved regional variations of dances like the tarantella and saltarello. These recordings, conducted for the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Italian radio, highlighted the integral role of dance in communal rituals and daily life.[45][46] During the Fascist era, the regime sponsored festivals to promote "pure" folk forms as symbols of national unity and rural authenticity, often for propagandistic purposes. In the 1930s, state-organized events revived local customs and dances, conceptualizing Italian society as an organic entity rooted in traditional practices, with performances of regional folk dances integrated into public spectacles to foster cultural homogeneity. The Mostra della Rivoluzione Fascista (1932–1934) exemplified this by incorporating folk elements into broader exhibitions of Italian heritage, though such initiatives selectively idealized pre-modern traditions to align with autarchic ideals.[47] Post-World War II, Italian folk dance experienced a significant revival driven by tourism and cultural festivals, which popularized dances like the pizzica in southern regions. The Notte della Taranta festival, founded in 1998 in Salento, has played a pivotal role by attracting over 200,000 attendees annually to performances blending traditional pizzica with contemporary music, boosting local economies and reintroducing the dance as a vibrant expression of Apulian identity amid modernization. Although efforts to nominate pizzica and tarantella for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status began in the late 2010s, these movements underscore the dances' enduring ritualistic and therapeutic roots, linked to historical tarantism. Tourism further amplified this revival, with folk dance troupes performing at international events and integrating into wedding and festival repertoires, sustaining regional variants against urbanization.[48][49] In the late 20th and 21st centuries, challenges to preservation included globalization's diluting effects, prompting digitization initiatives and innovative fusions. RAI's Archivio del Folklore Italiano, digitized since the early 2000s, provides online access to thousands of 1950s recordings, including dance footage, enabling researchers to study and revive endangered forms through digital platforms. Groups like Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino have fused folk dances with modern genres such as techno and reggae, creating hybrid performances that appeal to younger audiences while combating cultural erosion, as seen in global tours and collaborations that maintain the energetic, improvisational essence of dances like pizzica. These efforts emphasize education and community workshops to counter homogenization, ensuring folk dance's adaptability in a globalized context.[50][51][48]

Dances by region

Northern Italy

Northern Italian folk dances reflect a blend of alpine traditions, couple formations, and influences from neighboring Germanic and Slavic cultures, often performed in community festivals and featuring precise, rhythmic steps suited to mountainous terrains. In Piedmont, the Monferrina stands out as a lively quadrille-style dance in 6/8 time, originating from the Monferrato region and characterized by teasing pantomime between partners, accompanied by singing and instrumental music from violin and guitar.[4][52] This dance, with its Bacchic energy, spread widely across northern and central Italy, emphasizing group coordination and flirtatious interactions.[4] In Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the furlana exemplifies a fast-paced jumping couple dance, named after the Friuli region and dating to the 17th century, where partners perform lively leaps and spins in a spirited, mimetic style that mimics courtship.[53] This energetic form, often set to quick violin tunes, highlights the area's historical Slavic influences and was a staple in rural gatherings.[54] Lombardy valleys feature alpine-influenced dances with smooth, gliding steps, such as variations of the giga and bourrée, adapted from 16th-century court forms into communal rounds that prioritize grounded, flowing movements across uneven terrain.[55] Weapon dances, tied to medieval militia rituals, persist in northern Italy through performances like the Danza degli Spadonari in Piedmont's Susa Valley, where dancers clash swords in circular formations to honor patron saints, evoking historical warrior processions against invaders.[56] In Emilia-Romagna and adjacent areas, similar sword-clashing traditions, such as those in Modena's festivals, integrate martial precision with rhythmic steps, preserving echoes of feudal defense practices.[57] These displays often accompany religious feasts, blending combat simulation with celebratory group dynamics. Alpine characteristics dominate in regions like South Tyrol, where adaptations of the schuhplattler involve stamping, slapping, and occasional gliding transitions influenced by Tyrolean neighbors, performed by men in leather shorts during folk festivals.[58] Accompaniment frequently includes yodeling alongside accordion and brass, adding a vocal echo to the precise, earthy movements that symbolize strength and virility.[58] Local variations near Trieste incorporate Istrian elements, such as circular formations in the balun dance, where couples rotate counterclockwise in linked chains, reflecting Slavic kolo influences from the peninsula's multicultural heritage.[59]

Central Italy

Central Italy's folk dances, encompassing regions like Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, Lazio, and Abruzzo, emphasize processional formations and narrative storytelling deeply intertwined with rural agrarian cycles and religious observances. These dances often feature communal participation, reflecting the area's historical blend of peasant traditions and ecclesiastical influences, where movements symbolize fertility, renewal, and communal harmony. Unlike more martial or improvisational styles elsewhere, central Italian forms prioritize structured lines, circles, and reenactments that evoke seasonal transitions and mythic lore.[60] The saltarello stands as a quintessential leaping line dance originating from the Marche region, characterized by energetic jumps and rhythmic steps performed in a chain formation. Dancers, historically clad in wooden clogs and wielding sticks to produce percussive sounds, link arms or hands to create a flowing line that advances and retreats, embodying a celebration of erotic vitality and feminine spiritual power rooted in local fairy lore from the Mountain of the Fairies. Accompanied by diatonic accordion and frame drum since the mid-19th century, the dance's ternary rhythms underscore its ties to ancient fertility rites, evolving from violin-led peasant gatherings to structured communal events.[60][61] In Lazio's Ciociaria area, the ciociaria dance manifests as a hand-clapping couples form, where pairs face each other in close proximity, alternating rhythmic claps with subtle footwork and arm gestures to mimic flirtatious dialogue. This variant of the saltarello ciociaro avoids high leaps, instead focusing on synchronized arm raises and circular turns that build tension through teasing interactions, often performed during village festivals to honor agricultural abundance. Its structure highlights rural courtship customs, with participants forming lines that expand into couple sets, preserving 19th-century peasant expressions amid religious processions.[61][62] Processional styles in Tuscany, such as the maggiaiola, center on May Day garland dances that honor spring's arrival through floral-adorned parades in towns like Lucignano. Participants weave garlands of seasonal blooms into floats and wreaths, forming slow, meandering lines that evolve into faster circular formations as the procession advances, symbolizing the earth's awakening and agricultural renewal. These dances, dating to 1937 but rooted in pre-Christian fertility customs, culminate in exuberant "flower battles" where petals are tossed, reinforcing community bonds through shared motifs of growth and vitality.[63] Narrative integrations appear prominently in Abruzzo's light processions during the Night of the Faugni in Atri, where participants form circles around blazing reed bundles (faugni) in a ritual blending Catholic solemnity with pre-Christian elements of fire and purification, including dances with giant puppet figures to symbolize light triumphing over shadow, often concluding with fireworks to evoke renewal.[64] Hybrid influences from the Renaissance era are evident in quadriglia adaptations across central Italy, where courtly square-dance formations were simplified for peasant use, blending elegant couple turns with rural improvisation. Performed by four couples in facing sets, the dance features called figures—progressions, chains, and promenades—that integrate ternary folk rhythms with structured geometry, often during religious feasts to bridge aristocratic patronage and village life. This evolution preserved Renaissance poise in communal settings, adapting French-originated steps to local instruments like the accordion for enduring rural and ceremonial roles.[65]

Southern Italy

Southern Italian folk dances, prevalent in regions such as Campania, Puglia, Calabria, and Basilicata, are characterized by their energetic and improvisational nature, often performed in communal settings tied to agrarian life and Mediterranean cultural exchanges. These dances emphasize rapid rhythms, physical expressiveness, and social interaction, distinguishing them from more structured forms elsewhere in Italy. Rooted in peasant traditions, they incorporate elements of courtship, ritual, and labor, with music driven by percussion like the tambourine (tammorra or tamburello).[66][67] The tarantella, originating in Puglia, exemplifies these traits through its spinning couple formations and accelerating tempos designed to simulate the cure for tarantism, a historical affliction attributed to spider bites affecting rural workers. Performed in 6/8 time with short, repetitive phrases that build speed, it involves whirling movements, hand-clapping, and improvised steps by pairs, often evoking flirtatious challenges between men and women. In Puglia's Salento area, the dance draws from ancient Greek influences, with tunes possibly deriving from classical melodies like the skinnis of satyr plays, transmitted orally since at least the 15th century.[68] Closely related is the pizzica, a heel-stomping variant from Puglia's Salento region, featuring call-and-response improvisation in vocals and steps, where dancers shift from 4/4 to 6/8 rhythms to heighten energy and enact male-female flirtation motifs. Danced in a circular ronda formation, it uses the tamburello for emphatic accents on beats, with musicians adapting improvisatorily to the performers' movements, reflecting Mediterranean crossroads of influences including Moorish modal systems from historical seafaring interactions. This dance, like the tarantella, historically addressed tarantism through trance-like ecstasy, though it has evolved into social expressions at festivals.[67] In Campania, the tammurriata stands out as a tambourine-driven couples dance in 4/4 binary rhythm, incorporating circular movements, hopping steps, and phases of close-contact courtship or duel-like gestures. Tied to agrarian life, it mimics fieldwork actions such as harvesting and digging, performed by farmers during pilgrimages to Marian shrines like Montevergine, blending devotion with earthy vitality. Ancient Greek and Roman roots are evident in its Bacchic-inspired ecstasy, contrasting the tarantella's triplets.[66] Calabrian variants, such as the tarantella calabrese, maintain high-energy improvisation with skipping steps, skirt-twirling, and prop-like use of tools in harvest contexts, echoing Puglia's forms but adapted to local terrains. In Basilicata, similar tarantella styles prevail, with energetic spins and rhythmic accelerations fostering communal bonds during rural celebrations. Overall, these dances' circular formations recall ancient Mediterranean precedents, including Greek syrtos-like circles, infused with Arab rhythmic complexities from historical invasions. Agrarian ties are profound, as seen in harvest rituals where dances incorporate sickles or carts as props, symbolizing labor and fertility in southern peasant society.[68][67]

Insular Italy

Insular Italy encompasses the folk dances of Sicily and Sardinia, where geographic isolation has fostered unique evolutions blending ancient indigenous practices with external colonial influences, resulting in rituals that retain deep symbolic layers often tied to agrarian and spiritual life.[69] In Sicily, the tarantella siciliana stands as a prominent folk dance, featuring a relatively slower tempo compared to mainland variants and occasionally incorporating castanets for rhythmic emphasis, though traditional performances more commonly rely on hand clapping and tambourines. This dance emerged in the early 17th century, rooted in ancient curative rituals believed to expel tarantism, a supposed spider-bite affliction, and remains a staple at festivals and weddings. The quadriglia siciliana, prevalent in Palermo, adapts the French-influenced square dance form from the 19th century, involving couples in structured figures that highlight community coordination and flirtatious interplay. Colonial legacies are apparent in Sicilian sword dances, such as the Tataratà from Casteltermini, which incorporate choreographed clashes evoking medieval combats and bear traces of Spanish and Norman occupations that shaped the island's multicultural heritage from the 11th to 18th centuries.[70][71][72][73][74] Sardinian dances exemplify the island's insular preservation of prehistoric elements, with the ballu tundu—a traditional circular formation where dancers hold hands and execute synchronized steps—symbolizing communal unity and joyous expression during festivals. This round dance, performed to launeddas reed pipe music, contrasts with linear forms like sa dança de sa corda, a rope-skipping line dance that mimics agricultural labors and fosters group harmony in rural gatherings. The su passu torrau, originating near Nuoro, involves paired lines of men and women with distinctive jumps and advances, reflecting pre-Christian pagan motifs linked to fertility and renewal, as seen in broader Sardinian rituals invoking earth's bounty. Integration of canto a tenore polyphonic singing enhances these dances, with four male voices imitating pastoral sounds to accompany movements, a practice recognized for its ancient roots in the island's shepherd culture.[75][76][77][78][79][80] The isolation of these islands has amplified non-Italian influences, from Phoenician and Carthaginian contacts in Sardinia's prehistoric dances to Arab-Norman and Spanish imprints in Sicily's performative arts, allowing pagan undercurrents—like symbolic jumps for fertility in su passu torrau—to persist alongside Christian overlays, distinguishing insular traditions from mainland communal forms.[81][82]

Cultural and social roles

Community and festival contexts

Italian folk dances play a pivotal role in village balls and sagre, the local harvest festivals that celebrate agricultural abundance and strengthen communal ties. In Tuscany, for instance, the Sagra del Tordo in Montalcino features the Trescone, an ancient dance performed by young men and women in 19th-century attire to the accompaniment of accordion music, inviting widespread participation and promoting social interaction among villagers.[83] Similarly, events like the sagra del vino in various Tuscan locales incorporate local folk dances, serving as lively expressions of joy during grape harvests. These dances facilitate courtship and socialization, with participants forming mixed couples to engage in flirtatious exchanges through quick steps and teasing movements.[84] Gender dynamics are evident in the choreography, where men's athletic leaps contrast with women's graceful responses, reinforcing traditional roles while allowing playful negotiation in a communal setting.[3] During Carnival and saint's day celebrations, Italian folk dances adapt to regional styles, highlighting contrasts between northern masked festivities and southern processions. In northern Italy, Venice's Carnival emphasizes masked dances in historic palazzos, where participants in elaborate costumes perform folk-inspired jigs, blurring social hierarchies and encouraging anonymous interactions among community members.[85] Community preparation is intensive, with groups collaborating on mask and costume creation to ready for parades and balls, fostering collective creativity and bonds.[86] In contrast, southern saint's day events, such as those in Sicily, integrate dances into processional routes, where groups perform rhythmic folk steps alongside floats, emphasizing group synchronization over individual masking to build neighborhood solidarity.[86] Family and generational transmission of Italian folk dances occurs primarily through oral teaching in emigrant communities, preserving traditions amid diaspora. These gatherings, often held in urban parks or halls, allowed families to recreate village sagre atmospheres, with parents guiding children in couple formations to instill values of heritage and social grace.[87] In the 20th century, tourism significantly boosted Italian folk dance festivals, sustaining local economies by drawing visitors to rural areas. Sagre incorporating dances, such as those in Umbria, attracted thousands—e.g., the Sagra della Castagna drew 5,000 attendees over three days—generating revenue from food, lodging, and crafts while reinforcing community identity through performative traditions.[88] This influx helped revitalize depopulated villages, with dances serving as key attractions that extended festival durations and encouraged repeat tourism.[88]

Ritual and ceremonial functions

Italian folk dances have long served ritual and ceremonial functions, particularly in therapeutic, fertility, and seasonal rites, where they embody symbolic actions to invoke protection, abundance, and spiritual release. These practices often blend pre-Christian pagan elements with Christian traditions, providing communal catharsis and marking life transitions. The tarantella, originating in southern Italy, exemplifies a therapeutic dance used as an exorcism for tarantism, a condition attributed to the bite of the tarantula spider or, more figuratively, psychological hysteria. In the 17th century, medical dissertations described the ritual as involving frenzied dancing to music, believed to induce sweating that expelled the "poison," with physicians documenting cases where the dance lasted hours or days until the afflicted collapsed in relief. This practice was rooted in 16th- and 17th-century Apulian folklore, where the dance was prescribed as a cure, as noted in early medical texts like the Sertum papale de venenosis bestiis et animalibus (1584), which detailed musical exorcisms for spider bites. Modern psychological interpretations frame tarantism as a form of collective hysteria or therapeutic trance, allowing participants—often women—to express repressed emotions through ecstatic movement, as explored in ethnographic studies of southern Italian rituals.[89][90][91] In wedding and fertility rites, dances symbolize union, prosperity, and agricultural abundance. In Sardinia, the ballu tundu (round dance) features in celebrations with its circular formation representing community support. The dance's lively steps and songs emphasize harmony and renewal, often accompanying rituals like sa 'razia, the breaking of a plate filled with grains and coins for luck and plenty. In Calabria, the tarantella is performed during wedding feasts to ensure the couple's prosperity and echo ancient agrarian cults.[92][93][94] Funerary and seasonal ceremonies also feature dances for ancestral invocation and transition. In Puglia, during summer festivals like La Notte della Taranta in August, folk groups perform pizzica variants, with rhythmic steps and chants believed to call upon ancestors for guidance and protection, blending Christian saint veneration with pre-Christian sky-watching rituals for the dead.[95] Sword dances, such as the Moresca in southern regions, occur in ceremonial contexts, involving synchronized movements to symbolize courage, rooted in medieval traditions.[90] Pagan survivals persist in ceremonial steps, notably echoes of the ancient Roman Lupercalia festival—a fertility rite involving ritual whipping—in the flagellant processions of Roman Carnival. Dancers and penitents incorporate whipping motions with steps to purify and promote health, adapting the Luperci's goat-skin thongs into symbolic self-flagellation for communal renewal, as seen in historical Carnival reenactments.[96][97]

Modern preservation and global influence

In the 21st century, preservation efforts for Italian folk dance have gained institutional momentum through international recognitions and national archiving projects. The Opera dei Pupi, Sicily's traditional puppet theater inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2001, includes musical elements aiding broader safeguarding of southern Italian expressive arts.[98] Complementing this, Italy's Istituto Centrale per i Beni Sonori ed Audiovisivi (ICBSA) maintains extensive digital archives of folk music and audiovisual recordings, such as the Archivio Folkstudio collection, which documents traditional dances through audio and video materials to ensure their accessibility for future generations.[99][100] Educational initiatives and festivals play a vital role in sustaining these traditions domestically. Organizations like the Società di Danza in Bologna offer programs teaching historical and folk-inspired dances, including tarantella and saltarello variants, fostering community engagement and skill transmission among younger participants.[101] Similarly, events such as the annual folk festivals in regions like Puglia, including the Notte della Taranta, integrate live performances of pizzica and tarantella to promote cultural continuity, drawing thousands and blending education with public spectacle.[102] Globally, Italian folk dance has influenced diaspora communities and artistic forms. In the United States, Italian-American groups like Amici Italiani preserve and perform dances such as tarantella and quadriglia at festivals, including Festa Italiana in Rockford, where youth and adult troupes showcase southern Italian styles to maintain heritage among immigrants' descendants.[103][104] In Argentina, large Italian immigrant populations incorporate tarantella into celebrations, sometimes fusing it with local tango rhythms, as seen in community events in Rosario that highlight shared Mediterranean roots.[105] On the classical stage, choreographer George Balanchine drew directly from tarantella folklore for his 1964 ballet Tarantella, transforming the energetic southern Italian peasant dance into a dynamic pas de deux that popularized its rhythms in modern ballet repertoires worldwide.[106] Challenges from climate change threaten rural festivals central to folk dance transmission, with rising temperatures and extreme weather disrupting outdoor events in southern Italy, as seen in altered schedules for harvest-related celebrations due to droughts and heatwaves.[107] Innovations counter these issues through contemporary fusions, such as electronic remixes of tarantella by producers like Gabry Ponte, whose 2024 track blends traditional rhythms with EDM to attract younger audiences and extend the dance's relevance in global music scenes.[108]

References

  1. Folk Dances in Italy
  2. From Tarantella to Tyrol: a Tour of Italian Folk Music
  3. [PDF] FOLK DANCES OF THE WORLD: Southern Italy's Tarantella The ...
  4. Folk Dances in Italy
  5. [PDF] European Folk Dances | Galway Public Library
  6. [PDF] SALTARELLO An Italian Folk Dance
  7. [PDF] January 1955 - Folk Dance Federation of California
  8. The Embodied Rhythms of Musicians and Dancers in the ... - J-Stage
  9. [PDF] Neapolitan Tarantella - Folk Dance Federation of California
  10. Dances and instrumental styles from (or “from”) Elsewhere (Chapter 6)
  11. Zampogna - Italian - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  12. Chitarra battente – Works - eMuseum
  13. [PDF] Introduction to Global Music The Center for European Studies and ...
  14. https://www.hellomusictheory.com/learn/italian-instruments/
  15. [PDF] ABSTRACT Title of Document: LUCIANO BERIO'S NATURALE: A ...
  16. [PDF] folk music of the mediterranean
  17. FolkWorld #51: Music of Italy
  18. Italian Traditions: Clothing, Religion, Weddings | Italy Guide
  19. Italian Traditional Wedding Attire: Regional Ceremonial Clothing
  20. https://www.shop-sofia.com/blogs/news/the-symbolism-of-colours-and-patterns-in-italian-dress
  21. [PDF] Wounded Italy, the Moresca, and the Performance of Alterity
  22. Italian Tarantella Dancing Costumes - Pour La Victoire
  23. Fashioning the Italian Nation: Risorgimento and its costume all'italiana
  24. [PDF] Aspects of Roman Dance Culture - OAPEN Home
  25. Roman Dance - Carnaval.com
  26. Early Medieval Dance Music - University of Waterloo SCA Web Server
  27. Full text of "World History Of The Dance" - Internet Archive
  28. [PDF] “dentro a la danza de le quattro belle” (purg. 31.104)
  29. Southern Italy's centuries-long dancing mania | Wellcome Collection
  30. De Pratica Seu Arte Tripudii - Guglielmo Ebreo of Pesaro
  31. Dance Instruction Manuals, ca. 1490-1920 | Digital Collections
  32. Genesis of a Tradition - NYPL, 500 Years of Italian Dance
  33. The Early Renaissance c1445 – c1535 | Early Dance Circle
  34. Renaissance Dance | Articles and Essays | Digital Collections
  35. [PDF] RENAISSANCE COURT DANCE in ITALY And FRANCE A Short ...
  36. Botticelli's Primavera - ItalianRenaissance.org
  37. Commedia dell'arte - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  38. (DOC) “Senza alcun ordine, la danza sia, Chi 'l minuetto, Chi la follia ...
  39. Theatre stages Carlo Goldoni's 'The Servant of Two Masters'
  40. 4th Historical Dance Symposium - Italy and the Dance | earlydance.org
  41. The Imbriani Fund, between Neapolitan folk song ... - Finestre sull'Arte
  42. Italy Heritage: Museums, Landmarks & Culture - Confinity
  43. The history of liscio, Italy's ballroom music - L'Italo-Americano
  44. The Tarantella - La Gazzetta Italiana
  45. Italian Treasury | Association for Cultural Equity
  46. (PDF) Archiving the Digital RAI Collection of Traditional Folk Culture
  47. Article Pt.2 - NYPL, 500 Years of Italian Dance
  48. Pizzica: the centuries-old Italian folk music still whipping up a frenzy
  49. La pizzica punta a Patrimonio Unesco - ANSA
  50. https://journal.iasa-web.org/index.php/pubs/article/view/38
  51. http://www.teche.rai.it/archivio-del-folclore-italiano/
  52. Monferrina (Folk Dance) | Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
  53. [PDF] La Furlana - Folk Dance Federation of California
  54. The Furlana dances (The Forlane) in Classical Music - Interlude.hk
  55. Alpine Dancing -- Turning Couple Dancing -- see also Nordic Dancing
  56. Dance of Swords - Giaglione - Vallesusa Tesori
  57. Danza degli Spadonari in Giaglione | Rubber Slippers In Italy
  58. Schuhplattln in South Tyrol | Traditional dancing
  59. istrian dance balun - Folklorni ansambl Linđo
  60. The Saltarello. - Roberto Lucanero
  61. The Saltarello in Rome and in the Campagna - jstor
  62. Ciociaria: A Land of Ancient Silences | Wandering Italy Blog
  63. Puppet theatre in Perugia en-US - | www.umbriatourism.it
  64. Maggiolata of Lucignano | Visit Tuscany
  65. Night Of The Faugni - An Authentic Folklore Event In Abruzzo
  66. Experiencing a Traditional Celebration in Regional Italy
  67. La quadriglia/The quadrille - Italian Folk Ensemble - YouTube
  68. The Tammorra Displaced:1 Music and Body Politics from ...
  69. LYRIC POSSESSION: A DRAMATIZATION OF ITALIAN TARANTISM ...
  70. TARANTISM - Cambridge University Press & Assessment
  71. Festivals as Sites of (Re)Presentation and Reclamation in Sardinia
  72. Sicilian tarantella: history and curiosities | Tutte Sicily Fun Facts
  73. [PDF] selected folk dances from many lands
  74. https://www.dieli.net/SicilyPage/Folksongs/folkmusic.html
  75. Norman Sicily (Four) - The Invention of Norman Visual Culture
  76. Sicilian Peoples: The Spaniards - The Spanish in Sicily - Best of Sicily
  77. Su ballu tundu, the traditional dance - Oliena
  78. The traditional dance in Sardinia - Make Heritage Fun!
  79. Passu Torrau (Italy) - Folk Dance Federation of California
  80. Inside an Ancient Pagan Ritual That Makes Men Become Monsters
  81. Canto a tenore, Sardinian pastoral songs
  82. Tenore e Cuncordu de Orosei - Musical Traditions
  83. [PDF] Sardigna no est Italia: Resistance as Sardinian Identity - eScholarship
  84. Popular Sicilian folk traditions - Domina.it
  85. the Sagra del Tordo - Montalcino Wine Tours
  86. Italian Traditions: Dance the Tarantella!
  87. The Grand Ball of the Minuet at the Venice Carnival
  88. Carnivals in Italy: from North to South - Italia.it
  89. Traditional Italian Folk Dancing - La Gazzetta Italiana
  90. https://doi.org/10.1080/15528014.2021.1873037
  91. an historical and sociopsychiatric appraisal - of tarantism and its ...
  92. Dance between disease and cure: the tarantella and the physician
  93. (PDF) Bitten and enchanted: Tarantismo as a Southern Italian ...
  94. Rituals and symbols of traditional weddings - Sardegna Turismo
  95. Wedding in Sardinia: experience the Mediterranean romance
  96. Italian traditions: The Calabrian tarantella, a living folk tradition
  97. The real secret of Pizzica, an Apulian dance - Puglia Paradise
  98. The Origins of the Roman Festival Lupercalia - ThoughtCo
  99. The Musical Disease - MIT Press Direct
  100. Wayang puppet theatre - UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
  101. Archivio Folkstudio - ISTITUTO CENTRALE PER I BENI SONORI ED ...
  102. Europe - Ethnomusicology - Research Guides at UCLA Library
  103. School of XIX Century Dance - Società di Danza
  104. 15 Best Italian folk events to attend in 2025 | Visititaly.eu
  105. Amici Italiani Adult Troupe | Greater Rockford Italian American ...
  106. Amici Italiani Dance Troupes - Festa Italiana Rockford
  107. In ARGENTINA ballano la tarantella come in ITALIA - #italy
  108. Tarantella | New York City Ballet
  109. How the Climate Crisis is Impacting Italy
  110. Edm Tarantella - TikTok
User Avatar
No comments yet.