What are the Types of Dancing in Italy?
The musical world of Italy became diverse. The emergence of new instruments and melodies encouraged lively dance and vigorous movements to the beat. Italian national dances were born and developed. Their names were formed, often based on the territorial principle. There were many varieties of Italian dance styles. The main known Italian dance names today are: bergamasca, gagliarda, saltarella, pavana, tarantella and pizzica.
What is the Famous Italian Folk Dance?
Tarantella is a rousing, energetic, and popular dances in Italy, especially in Southern Italy, although the Neapolitan tarantella is considered the classic version. The name of the popular Italian dance called Tarantella is believed to come from the name of an Italian city, Taranto.
According to another legend, tarantella was a way to cure insanity caused by a tarantula bite. The fast-paced, galloping dance supposedly helped to disperse the blood and counteract the spider's venom. In the XVI century, special orchestras walked the streets, to the music of which people danced tarantella for hours. Couples or individual dancers form a circle during the dance, moving clockwise, then suddenly changing direction.
What is the Italian Folk Dance of the Tarantula?
This Italian dance show is accompanied by rapid, fast, and cheerful music, sharp, clear gestures and even singing. When the Italian bar dancers in a circle joined each other, the circle and the direction of the circle constantly changed, which means that we got to the Italian wedding. The main instruments in Italian music and dances are the guitar and tambourine.
In each region of Italy, this dance has its peculiarities. There is the Sicilian tarantella from Northern Italy, and the tarantella of Montemarano, Calabria, and Gargano. However, the classic of the court dances is the Neapolitan tarantella, born from Spanish and Moorish motifs. What remains unchanged in any region in Southern Italy is the quickness and zestfulness of the Italian dances tarantella.
Is Ballet an Italian Dance?
The merit of the famous dances of Italy is also expressed in the development of the art of ballet. It originated in the courts of Italian princes during the Renaissance in Southern Italy. The word "ballet" is derived from the Latin word "ballo", which means "dancing". At the end of the 16th century in Italy, it was understood as a dance episode in opera, which was used to convey a certain mood. Later ballet became an independent art form.
Popular folk dance Italian art impressed the French court, and in the 17th century, ballet moved there and then became popular throughout Europe. Nowadays, the level of ballet art in Italy is no less high than before.