Tarantella - Revival of Ancient Tradition or Something New?

Allesandra Belloni's performance

“For those of us with the passion for rediscovering or preserving our Italian cultural heritage, we no longer need to desperately embrace those songs, dances, folk dress, etc., imposed on us by those who cannot authenticate them as representing our heritage." -Independent scholar Celeste DiPietropaolo

Taking original folk practices out of their original social context changes the “meaning” of the dance. But does it change the “essence?” If the steps remain the same, and the music remains the same, how much power does the “context” have to change the “meaning” or rather, the “experience” of the  dance? 

No doubt, Italian dancers allude to the original folk context of the Italian Tarantella. But how much is  lost in translation? 

For Italian-American immigrants and children of immigrants, the Tarantella is danced at weddings, and some people enjoy re-claiming this traditional dance into their own lives. But it is interesting to consider that this dance no longer functions in its “original” context, as that context no longer exists. 

The Italian-American people are westernized and Americanized. Italian-Americans looking for their “roots” should make allowances for the idea that sometimes “tradition revived” is more like “tradition invented.”

Reinvention and adaptation are tricky when it is difficult to locate originals. Making a collective history becomes even more tricky! What do you think?

A) What is your family tradition like at weddings and celebrations?
B) Have you traveled to Italy and seen traditional dance in the streets?
C) What do you think of American cultural productions like Jersey Boys the Broadway musical? Is this kind of cultural production invented or revived? 

So a lot of you have been asking questions about the trip in March... so here are EF's FAQ's!

Frequently Asked Questions | EF College Study Tours

What is a short-term study abroad tour? 
How does a College Study Tour work?
How do I enroll on a College Study Tour? 
Can my tour dates change? 
How are payments made and is there a payment plan? 
What are departure fees?
Why should I purchase EF’s recommended coverage plan?What travel documents will I need?
Which airlines does College Study Tours use?Can I change my flights?What if I can no longer travel on tour?What is an optional excursion? Will my group have free time?What types of hotels does College Study Tours use?What is the food like? How does CST handle special dietary requests?How much luggage should I bring?How much should I bring for tipping and spending money?

on the tour bus in Rome. So exciting!

Italian – The Language

The Italian language is one of the most beautiful languages of the Western world. When you travel to Italy, your ears will be filled with the beautiful sounds of this mellifluous and historic language – and you will want to try out your language skills with the locals.

For quick phrases, I recommend Lonely Planet’s Fast Talk Italian phrasebook for $8.99. This choice is obviously better than a dictionary because words are so difficult to find in the dictionary when you need them. Instead, pick up this book (pocket-sized) and flip through before you travel. Try to commit a few phrases to memory, and even sound them out loud a few times. Practice with a friend or relative can help too. This book can equip you and help you get the feel for the local language and some phrases you might need.

random Italian people

Once you have that down, you can try to ad-lib a little bit. This is another beauty of the Italian language. Locals can be pretty forgiving when it comes to trying their language as long as they see you are trying and attempting to get your point across and communicate. In English, this kind of piecemeal approach has a worse effect. Words must be in the correct order for native English speakers to understand.

However in Italian, since some of the words have specific endings, sometimes it doesn’t matter as much where you put them in the sentence for every day conversation. Think of speaking the language as an art, and try as much as you can. Eventually you will start to get it.

Gestures in Italian are almost if not more important than the words themselves. Pay attention to people’s body movements as they speak to you in Italian, and see if you can pick up on some of that when you talk. Look up some of these gestures on YouTube and practice before you take your trip. Examples are concepts like hungry, go straight ahead, a long time ago, after, before, etc. Sometimes, a gesture is all you need to get your point across.

Pondering the Italian language in Venezia.

Student Demonstrates History of the Italian Tarantella Dance

 

Vera Lynn, presenter, (left) with her Mom Linda Viscusi Lentini and Uncle Dr. Robert Viscusi, author

Hempstead, NY - Coro D'Italia member and Montclair State University Graduate Student Vera Lentini presents a talk entitled "The Italian Tarantella" in which she showcases her findings from ethnographic research alongside of digital artifacts from the 80-year-old Coro D'Italia troupe. Her presentation which is part of the 45th annual Italian American Studies Association (IASA) conference "E Pluribus: What is Italian America?” encourages Italian-Americans to uncover their own traditions in a scholarly light.

At the conference held the last weekend of November hundreds of scholars gather to participate in a forum that includes individual presentations and roundtables on poetry, theory, food, cultural studies, literature and any and all subjects having to do with Italian-American life.

Vera’s presentation tells the story of the third or fourth generation Italian-American discovering his roots through the Tarantella, which is a dance of Mediterranean people and Peasants who left their lives and migrated to places like America, being part of a larger trend of migrations away from rural society and towards the cosmopolitan.

In her paper Vera considers the Italian American folk song as being a facet of Italian-American life and social contexts, including weddings, community events, healing rituals and even dance competitions. Drawing on folk, cultural studies and performance studies scholarship, Vera explores changes that occur as the Tarantella changes contexts and functions as Stuart Hall’s “retelling of past histories,” enabling us to change the “ways we positions ourselves.”In this place between the old and the new, Italians fashion collective and individual identities, and in America Italians have negotiated with media representations and identity in an attempt to re-create the history of the past.

An Italian-American from New Jersey, Vera has made the trip to Italy six times, completed research at New York University, and is excited to share Italian culture with others.

Vera is a Graduate Assistant in the English Department at Montclair State University and former tutor at the Rutgers Plangere Writing Center. She has published a study of Mediterranean songs and dance in A Sud dell’Europa –DallaCarta di Barcellona all’Unione per il Mediterraneo as well as a collection of poems in the Plangere publication “Writing Identities”. A Phi Beta Kappa scholar and a former Rutgers College Presidential Scholar, Vera plans to complete her Master’s Degree and teach first-year writing.