It is difficult to imagine an Italian wedding or other celebration without the traditional dance called tarantella. This is a rhythmic dance of a fast, upbeat tempo, and the moves of the dancers are graceful and passionate at the same time. Tarantella dancers most commonly dance to the sounds of the tambourine, and this instrument is the integral part of the dance, together with the guitar, the mandolin and the accordion. Other instruments are sometimes included as well, such as flute, trumpet or clarinet.
Even though today tarantella is danced at celebrations and happy occasions, this dance used to have a different purpose in the past. In the period between 15th and 17th century, people from Italian province of Taranto would often get infected by tarantism – a condition caused by the bite of a spider known as tarantula. The victims of the bite would enter the state of hysteria, and the tarantella dance was used to hypnotize them, make them enter a state of trance and get cured from the poison. Even though people believed it was the magical power of the dance that cured the tarantism victims, the more likely fact is that the victims would sweat the poison out of their body after dancing frantically for a long time.
In addition to relieving tarantism symptoms, tarantella also became a method for relieving the symptoms of several mental conditions. It was used for healing women from neurotic behavior, as well as helping those who suffered from depression.
The dance is not used as a cure in modern times, but one thing is certain – if you find yourself at a traditional Italian wedding, the fast tempo and playful melody of this dance will make you move, and your mood will definitely be improved.
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