RAPTURE: An Exploration of Pizzica and Tarantella

Rapture explores the ritual of Pizzica (the spider’s bite) and Tarantella (dance of the spider). Rooted in ancient dances and music from the South of Italy, the show weaves together folk songs, dance and spoken word and is performed by modern Italian-Melbournians committed to keeping traditional rituals alive, but through a modern lens. The Sanacori Music Ensemble and Melbourne School of Tarantella come together in Rapture to provide renewal for both the performer and the audience. Come and witness the transformation.

Created by Rosa Voto and Sanacori featuring Sanacori and Melbourne School of Tarantella.

'Rapture'
an expression or manifestation of ecstasy or passion

a state or experience of being carried away by overwhelming
emotion

a mystical experience in which the spirit is exalted to a
knowledge of divine things

The origin of the pizzica, a traditional dance from the south of Italy belonging to the family of tarantella, stems from the Dionysian and other mysterious rites widespread in the Mediterranean area.

The dance, and the music that accompanies it, express a captivating and frenetic character, yet melancholic and sensual. The dance is strictly connected to the earth. The beating feet recall subterranean forces, while pushing up towards the sky and the divine, releasing pressure and renewing energy.

It is a dance in which the opposites, sky and earth, joy and pain/sorrow, masculine and feminine, illness and healing meet and clash, to find balance.

Rosa's work goes beyond defined choreography, it investigates the realm and the function of these dances, with the aim to find a link between past and present. so that we may be able to dance the “tarantella contemporanea” as an expression of one’s own uniqueness inside the circle.