Learn Pizzica Tarantata Dance with Silvia Perrone from Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino

Wednesday, Feb 1 @ 6:30pm, 2023

The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi

Past Event

Silvia Perrone, the dancer of CGS, will show you how to easily start dancing a Pizzica Tarantata, the traditional dance from Salento in South of Italy, a style also used to cure the legendary tarantata bite. The workshop is apt for dancers of all levels. Along with the technical work, Silvia Perrone will explain briefly about the history and the function of this engaging dance.

Biography

Silvia Perrone

Fascinated by dancing ever since she was a little kid, she was particularly interested in dances with traditional and popular roots, which had among its main characteristics symbolism, elegance and sensuality. She entered the world of ‘pizzica pizzica’ spontaneously out of the desire to dance the music of where she grew up. She was at all the popular festivals, taking part in the ‘ronde’ of musicians and dancers. She watched and learnt directly by mixing up with the other dancers of the region. She soon felt the need to put her own sensibility in the traditional dance.

She inserted some of her personal moves next to the most well-known ones, and borrowed some from other ‘tarantelle” of different regions of Southern Italy. She also invented a new style in the use of the foulard, important accessory in the ‘pizzica’ as well as in other popular dances, which is at the same time a love token (when dropped), symbol of shield, protection or distance (if used as a cap or barrier between the dancer and the man), or something used to play, to invite (when agitated away from the body, or rested on the shoulders or around the waist to symbolize a hug). While preparing for her performances, she pays special attention to the full picture that will perceive the observer, she makes specific use of the lights, designed to enhance the shapes created by her moves. She also designs her own stage dresses, with particular attention to colors and symbolism.

At the same time, she studied argentine tango, followed courses and workshops held by important dancers such as Ubaldo Sincovich, Florencia Argento, Angelica Grisoni, Javier Rodriguez, Osvaldo Roldan, Annamaria Ferrara. In 2008, she joined the Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino and performed brilliant representations of the ‘pizzica’ on all the stages visited by the CGS all around the world: in Italy, England, Switzerland, Croatia, France, Spain, USA, Canada, Portugal, Greece, Israel, Palestine, Germany. In 2010 and 2011, Silvia was picked as master conductor Ludovico Einaudi’s sole dancer in the “Notte della Taranta” festival. She danced in front of a crowd of over a 100 thousand people and took part in the international tours of the project.