The Segmento Tarantella Festival celebrates The Tarantella, an ancient dance dating back to the 15th century.
The festival, with shows across Brunswick, Reservoir, Geelong and Shepparton, will set the stage for this celebration. The festival will feature dance and music with performances, workshops, storytelling, and multimedia exhibitions presented across Melbourne and regional towns.
The history of Tarantella dates to ancient times in southern Italy. The solo Tarantella dance was used to cure disease provoked by the bite of the Tarantula spider! It was thought that by sending the victim into a fever-driven trance the dancer would sweat the poison from their body. Today Tarantella dance and traditions offer an opportunity to come together and celebrate diversity within the Italian community. This is a festival for anyone and everyone and perfect for families to share beautiful traditions with their loved ones.
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The festival will present events in Geelong and Club Italia on November 12th and Shepparton Showgrounds on November 19th broadening its audience reach. Most events are free and run all day and the festival is perfect for all ages and family-friendly. Workshops are organised in local primary schools, Italian Clubs and associations. Additionally, events are presented in elderly care centres and the festival organisers aim to share knowledge, values, and identity across generations.
“The festival brings together Australian, Italian and Greek crea(ves to provide an original and mul(immersive experience of traditional Italian music and dance.” Said Dr. Giovanni Butera, The Segmento FoundaDon.
“Participants and facilitators, including dancers, musicians, writers, poets, and visual artists, are committed to promoting Southern Italian and Southern European culture in the spirit of social cohesion.”
The festival’s artistic direction is led by Ciccio Nucera, renowned as the “king” of the Calabrian Tarantella, with an impressive career spanning over 40 years, including successful tours worldwide. Nucera, a virtuoso accordionist, and accomplished tambourine player has contributed to village festivals and collaborated with numerous artists, notably with the Calabria Orchestra since 2014. He initiated the successful project “The Tarantella is Addictive”, which garnered enthusiastic public acclaim.
The festival’s line-up includes performances by artists such as Davis Muccari, Gabriele Macri, Antonio and Maddalena Grosso, hailing from Italy. Local talent includes Melbourne’s very own Rus0ca Project and the talented Santa Taranta from Bellingen in NSW. MulDmedia exhibiDons and presentations will showcase traditional southern Italian musical instruments, which are used to accompany the enchanting singing and dancing. A series of workshops, hosted by Italian Clubs and AssociaDons, will feature dancing sessions, music, singing and Tamburello (musical instrument) workshops.
Find out more here.
