If you ever visit south Italy, make an effort to find and experience tammurriata. It is one of the most haunting, archaic dances that leaves you speechless in its beauty, energy and expression. One dancer told me: do not try to learn the moves. Pretend to be an animal.
Tammurriata is not only a dance, but the ritual and the event surrounding it. Best way to experience tammurriata is on small village festivals, often connected to the religious events. They happen all the time during Summer and also Carnival, but are not easy to plan in advance. You won’t find much online. You just need to go and ask around.
Tammurriata is danced in pairs (originally, often two men). Castagnete are being held in hands. Sometimes just one couple dances, surrounded by a circle of spectators. Sometimes many couples dance side by side.
During the prolonged intro, the singer builds up the tension. At some point, the tammorra (the drum) stars the devilish rhythm, and the dancers immediately start synchronizing their movement with the phrase. The prolonged last syllable, la votata, is the signal for the dancers to enter into a sort of vortex, the climax of the energy. Then the dancers separate and start anew.
In the two videos I share here, you may compare two different styles of tammurriata.
The first video above is a concert on a local festival I. This is the popular variant of the dance, which many people know.
The second video below is tammuriata terzignese, an archaic version of the dance that survived in just one village. The animalistic expression and almost mystical synchronization of two dancers is hypnotizing and rare to watch.
Mario, one of the performers, told me he learned it from his grandfather. I wanted to know how quickly the tradition evolved during one generation. So I asked how much of his personal style Mario introduced in the dance. His answer was straightforward and confident: Io e mio nonno balliamo uguale. (Myself and my grandpa, we dance identically.)
Post Scriptum
This is an inaugural post of video content on NomadicMind blog. Until now, I’ve mostly written articles. Please comment or send me a private message if you think content of that type is, or is not, interesting. If it is, like, share or subscribe.
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