ARACNE | TRAILER

Kathleen Delaney & Claudio Jacomucci
Aracne (2010) for dancer, accordion, pre-recorded sounds, video.

Aracne evokes and actualizes the rite of "Tarantula", a pagan ritual of possession present in Southern Italy (Apulia) from ancient times till the late 1970s.
It served people to dissolve negativity through rhythm: those who felt in depression or suffer from the pain of Life, claim to be bitten by a poisoned spider (the tarantula). 
For this reason they used to hire professional musicians who played for several days a very fast rhythmical and lively music (tarantella) in order to lead them to trance until they get rid of the poison.
The dancer movements recall those of a spider, regaining a verticality invested by the pulse of percussions which suggests an analogy with similar african tribal rites.
The rich musical research touches instrumental accordion virtuosism as well as electro-acoustic sounds bringing about a strong and elastic container for the ritual to happen. 
The video material mixes an original documentary on Tarantulism filmed by the ethnographer Ernesto De Martino in the 1960s.
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Music by Claudio Jacomucci 
Choreography by Kathleen Delaney

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Claudio Jacomucci
• Kathleen Delaney
• melanja palitta
• balanslab
• video dance
• aracne
• tarantism
• tarantula
• tarantella
• accordion
• classical accordion
• electroacustic
• De Martino
• contemporary dance
• multimedia performance

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Wonderfully evocative. Superb.

Romano