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| TARANTATA - SPIDER DANCE, June 29th at St. John the Divine | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 05:47 pm EDT 06/18/18 | |
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| CELEBRATE THE FEAST OF THE TARANTATI Tarantella Trance Dances and Healing Chants for the Black Madonna WITH ALESSANDRA BELLONI AND I GIULLARI DI PIAZZA IN TARANTATA - SPIDER DANCE Friday, June 29 at 8 PM CATHEDRAL OF ST JOHN THE DIVINE - ST JAMES CHAPEL 1047 AMSTERDAM AVENUE & 112 ST. Tickets : $30 Reservations: 866.811.4111 or www.stjohndivine.org In Italy, the ritual is traditionally celebrated in a church in Apulia. This will be the second time that Alessandra Belloni and I Giullari Di Piazza will reenact the ceremony inside a church in New York, making this a special annual tradition. At the conclusion of the performance, the audience will be invited to join in "releasing the poison and venom from our bodies and souls." I Giullari di Piazza is a resident company of Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The piece re-enacts an ancient Tarantati Trance Ritual, traditionally celebrated in Italy on June 29 (Feast of St. Paul) for the benefit of people, mainly women, who suffered from a form of depression or psychiatric disorder that was attributed to the bite of the tarantula. The company will stage the ceremony as it was done for many centuries around the altar in the small church of San Paolo di Galatina in the Apulia region (the heel of Italy's "boot"). The performance includes excerpts of the Christian ceremony's progenitor, which is based on the ancient ecstatic rites of Dionysus. The ritual is actually an ancient form of music and dance therapy dating back to ancient Greek rituals of Dionysus and his female followers, The Bacchae. Ever syncretic, the early Christians adapted the figure of Dionysus into St Paul and the wild orgiastic ceremony of The Bacchae into a healing trance ritual that became widespread through southern Italy. People who suffered from the "bite of the tarantula," also known as the bite of love, danced in a frenzy for three days to the 6/8 rhythm of the Tarantella while dressed in white. All thetarantati then assembled in a collective euphoria in a small church in Apulia, St Paul of Galatina, releasing their last cries of madness and anguish to the sounds of tambourines. Most women who had been tarantati had a history of sexual abuse, violence or unrequited love. The performers: Alessandra Belloni (lead vocals, ritual dance, tambourines, frame drums), Joe Deninzon (electric and acoustic violin), Wilson Montuori (electric and acoustic guitar), Susan Eberenz (flute, piccolo, recorders), Vinnie Scialla (drum set, percussion) and Giuseppe De Falco (Neapolitan singer). Mara Gerety (Vocals, violin) Cynthia Enfield (narrator) The dancers: Caterina Rago, Greta Campo (as The Tarantate), Amara (as fire & Belly dancer and Mark Mindek (as St Paul & Dionyus as Stilt Dancer). Scotty Brancher, dance & tamburello. (NY Times Critics Pick, Ben Brantley) Plot Description for I Giullari di Piazza: Tarantella - Spider Dance The "Spider Dance" or Tarantella, is an erotic trance dance ritual from Southern Italy, which has been used to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula. This new 'Spider Dance' production infuses the ancient melodies and instrumentation of the authentic tarantella with modern electronic dance beats. It features aerial, fire and stilt dancers, acrobats and a techno Tarantella trance dance. As with all of Belloni's presentations, the show is meticulously researched, with costumes and instrumentation as authentic as possible. The music ranges from traditional 6/8 southern Italian to 12/8 heavy-accented modern sounds, and includes tarantellas, sensual love songs, and women's work chants. |
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