Pizzica
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Pizzica (IPA: ['pittsika]) is a popular traditional dance originally born in the Salento peninsula (Lecce in particular) and later spread throughout all of the Puglia region. It is part of the large family of the tarantella (plural: tarantelle) dances.
[edit] Dance of the pizzica
Traditional pizzica is danced embracing a partner. Note that the hug must not necessarily involve two individuals of the opposite sex; often enough, two women can be seen dancing together, while nowadays it is more and more rare to observe two men dance an entire pizzica. However, an example of a pizzica dance between two men is found to this day in the Ostunese tradition (town of Ostuni), where one of the two men who dance jokingly acts as a woman for fun.
There are several traditional pizzica groups, the oldest being: Uccio Aloisi gruppu, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, I Tamburellisti di Torrepaduli.
Since 10 years ago there has been a summer Notte della Taranta (night of taranta), consisting of a whole night where many famous musicians alternate their performances with pizzica orchestras. Some of them include: Stewart Copeland, Franco Battiato, Gianna Nannini, Raiz, Lucio Dalla, and Carmen Consoli.
