34° Year – 68a edition
Castrovillari (CS) 24-31 July 2017

COMPARING TRADITIONS:
dance & music of Calabria & Puglia

The long life of Estadanza continues. This is the original summer workshop on traditional folk dancing in Italy. For the 3rd consecutive year, we are guests in Calabria in the beautiful town of Castrovillari, in calabro-lucani cultural contexts. This event brings together the most vast experience of field research on dance in Italy. A meticulous, profound study which has entered in contact with numerous local realities for over 40 years of research. This allows us to extract and document hundreds of examples of folk dances, many of which have disappeared among younger generations. Thus we have a very valuable archive for going beyond the generalizations that today surround folk music, a resource also useful for the younger generations on site who are able to rediscover their collective expressive roots.
There continues to be a comparison at a historical, anthropological, and morphological level between the dance and music of Calabria and another southern region: this year it will be Puglia. It is thus necessary to examine the Tarantismo phenomenon in both cultures.

A host of initiatives
This year’s edition once again brings many initiatives and opportunities for learning:
- Numerous workshops on folk dancing (Calabria and Puglia).
- Music courses (organetto, tamburello, zampogna, accordion).
- Theory lessons about Anthropology of Dance
- Lessons of Anthropology of  tarantismo.
- Guided screenings of unpublished research films and historical archives.
- Seminar on the state of conservation and protection of the folk heritage of Calabria.
- Gatherings and parties with elders, dancers, and musicians from the towns of the  Pollino.
- Concerts for listening and dancing of the festival Ethno-jazz “SUONI”.
- Visits to local historical towns, archaeological sites, and particular collections.
- Visits to museums of art, archeology, sacred art and rural culture.
- Visits to local artisan workshops making  zampogna, ciaramella and tamburelli.
- Delicious local food.

Safeguarding local traditions
Between a real and virtual dimension, between solid and liquid, local and global, between people who live their daily life in a spirit of sharing and neighborliness or who are just always online - these are questions that will affect our future. From the agro-pastoral rural culture comes the importance of real, direct, physical relationships, and the role of the local community, which helps each member to survive and thrive. The necessary transformations of the socio-economic system must necessarily come to terms with the cultural roots of a place. Occasions of collective celebration help to cement a sense of belonging, while the rhythms of daily life determine the character of each community. Getting to know ourselves and each other grows our awareness of who we are. Estadanza helps to explore with intelligence and depth the life and culture of areas of Italy, while at the same time it helps us to look in the mirror, to understand how much we are the products of cultural processes, which we also determine through our actions.

COURSES OF FOLK DANCES

Course of Calabrian folk dances
10 Hrs – Teachers: Pino Gala, Tiziana Miniati & Tamara Biagi
The course will take participants on a cultural journey through the various forms of the tarantelle calabresi. We begin with the dances of the Pollino area, one of the best-preserved for Italian traditional dances, where still today can be found the Pastorali, ancient tarantelle with a highly iterative form, thus therapeutic. Furthermore, the calabro-lucano framework of this zone of cultural transition  also shows tarantelle in circles,  in groups of 4 and in couples, together with the dances of the arbresh communities.  
Repertory: tarantelle & pastorali del Pollino, tarantella silana, scotis, figurative tarantella from Reventino, villanella bagnarota.

Course of Puglian folk dances  
7 Hrs – Teachers: Pino & Sabina Gala
In the face of hundreds of courses of neo-pizzica (or, as the current fashion “taranta”) and of artistic transformations of original forms that almost no-one knows (because the dance tradition was mostly finished by the 1970s-80s) we think it is useful to continue to share the original traditional models, so as to establish a point of departure, historically and philologically defined, for traditional dancing.
Repertory: pizzica pizzica del capo d’Otranto e Cisternino, tarantella di Carpino, tarantella altamurana, scozië di Cisternino.

A taste of dance: mini course on game-dances
3 hrs – Teachers: Tamara Biagi e Sabina Gala
Too little attention has been given to game-dances: these are fun to do, and good for group activities. Found in various parts of Italy, they offer valuable functions for pedagogy and social aggregation.

A taste of dance: mini course on the tarantella di Montemarano
3 hrs – Teachers: Pino Gala and Tiziana Miniati
Given the fortunate presence of the musicians of Montemarano at the festival  “Suoni”, a mini course will share the essential characteristics of the tarantella in a circle and group of 4.


CULTURAL ACTIVITIES

Anthropology of  tarantismo
4hrs – prof. Eugenio Imbriani – Univ. del Salento
Dance-therapy is a historical phenomenon spread throughout the Mediterranean, but especially present in Puglia; it continues to fascinate many people today.  Examining the historical sources and important studies on the subject, we’ll try to understand how the phenomenon has been viewed over time and how interpretations have shifted over time.

Anthropology of Dance
3hrs – prof. Giuseppe Gala – Ass. Taranta
Many topics to explore: From the importance of dance in rural culture to its gradual and unavoidable dispersion, from historical sources to the current state of field documentation, from contemporary influences to nostalgic and versions for spectacle. The lesson will be supported by field research videos.  

National convention
This year Estadanza is the location of a national convention on the study and health of traditions in Calabria and the safeguarding of local immaterial heritage. In particular, focus will be given to renewed appreciation and renewed functioning of traditional expressions. participants will include anthropologists, researchers and teachers of Calabrian dance.

The tree of memory: Gathering with local elders.
There will be several gatherings with elders from the towns of Pollino, who will share with course participants moments of singing, food, and tradition.

FOLK MUSIC COURSES
10Hrs - Local musicians will teach courses daily after lunch, for various instruments and styles. For students of organetto and accordion it is suggested to bring your own instrument.
Organetto a due bassi: Paolo Martino (villanelle reggitane)
Zampogna, ciaramella, fisarmonica: Luigi Stabile (repertory northern-Calabria)
Tamburello: Giuseppe Longo (Calabrian Styles)
Voice castrovillarese: Gerardo Bonifati and local female elders from Castrovillari.

ROOM AND BOARD
Participants will be housed free of charge by the Pro Loco del Pollino in the local school in  Castrovillari in shared rooms with 2-3 beds. Bring your own sheets/linens. Meals with  calabro-lucana cooking will be taken in the school canteen.

VISITS, GATHERINGS & FESTIVAL ETNO-JAZZ
There will be gatherings with local elders from nearby towns and with the arbresh (albanian) community, excursions in local historic centers and the Pollino national park.  Four evenings of the Ethno-jazz festival, and celebrations in local towns.

COSTS
• Entire course of Calabrian and Apulian dances:                 € 110.
• Musical instrument courses:                                   € 6/hr.
• Free lodging (with above mentioned conditions).
• Meals: 20 € /day (breakfast, lunch, dinner).
• Obligatory 2017 membership card of Ass. Cult. Taranta (€ 15).

ENROLLMENTS AND INFORMATION
If you are interested in our course please call or email to confirm availability. Once confirmed, fill out the application form and send a € 50 deposit by postal account or wire transfer, specifying the type of course in which you wish to participate and your phone number; the balance is to be paid at the start of the workshop.  
- C/c postale N° 26456509 in the name of Choreola / Taranta - Via Alfani 51 - 50121 FIRENZE
-   Wire transfer : Cassa Risparmio Firenze - Via Bufalini, 6 - IBAN= IT52 O061 6002 8000 0009 6161C00

INFO
Tel +39-055295178 Mobile: 340-5131771 (Sabina) / 347-5000000 (Pino)/ 347-6186994 (Tiziana)/ 349-4312349 (Tamara)
- www.taranta.it – taranta@taranta.it