Dances with Spiders: Crisis, Celebrity and Celebration in Southern Italy

Contents

• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Introduction: Tarantula Territory
• Salentine Tarantulas: Spider Dances and Discourses
• Tracking Down the Spider: Research Techniques and Intentions
• Crisis, Celebrity and Celebration: Contextualizing Salentine Tarantulas
• Preview: Summarizing this Book
• PART I: PAST AND PRESENT SPIDER WEBS
• Chapter 1. Seeking St Paul: Historical and Contemporary Enactments
• Dances at Galatina: a Crossroads of Old and New Tarantati
• Dances on Screen: Invention versus Intention
• Maria's 1959 Domestic Ritual: a Historical Performance
• Ada's 2001 Dance on TV: a Contemporary Performance
• Chapter 2. Webs through Time: Origins and History of Tarantism
• Possible Origins: Searching for Tarantism's Roots
• Historical Interpretations: Explaining the Tarantula's Cult
• De Martino's View: a Key Point of Reference
• Recent Studies: Continuing the Quest for Answers
• PART II: THE SPIDER'S CULT TODAY
• Chapter 3. Curing Myths and Fictive Cures: Views of Believers and Sceptics
• Tarantism as Cure: Debates in Favour of the Tarantula
• St Paul's Grotto: a Contested Site
• Spider Poisoning: a Contested Case
• Tarantism as Fiction: Debates Against the Tarantula
• Chapter 4. Ads and Antidotes: Celebrity versus Conservation Taranta-muffin, Techno-pizzica, Tarantavirus: Hybridizing the Pizzica
• The Festival of San Rocco: Revitalizing and Commercializing Traditions
• La Notte della Taranta: a Music and Media Spectacle
• La Sagra dei Curli: a Community Festival
• Chapter 5. Sensing Identities and Well-being: Personal Motivations and Experiences
• The Alla Bua: Music for Healing
• Tanya's Story: Dancing Colours
• Ada's Story: Retrieving Soundness
• PART III: FROM RITUAL TO LIMELIGHT
• Chapter 6. SpiderWoMen Transfixed: Negotiating Crisis and Cure
• Diagnosing Spiders: Identifying Tarantula Cases
• Views on Venom: Interpreting the Spider's Bite
• Tarantula Alternatives: Choosing Treatment Options
• Chapter 7. Tarantula Threads and Showbiz Airs: Fine-tuning Performances
• Spider Sites: Performance Places
• Spider Schedules: Performance Times
• Tarantula Threads: Past Props and Techniques
• Showbiz Airs: Present Props and Techniques
• Chapter 8. SpiderWoMen Transformed: Celebrating Well-being
• Magic Circles: Allowing Music to Take Over
• Rhythmic Intervention: Choosing to Entrain
• Vibrating the Spider's Web: Tapping a Source of Vitality
• Integrating Toxins: Connecting Self and Other
• Transforming Identities: Evoking a Sense of Belonging
• PART IV: CONCLUSION
• Chapter 9. Dancing Beyond Spiders
• Evelina's Story: Living with the Tarantula
• Tarantula Rhythms: Reflections on Performance and Well-being
• Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Filmography
• Index