Alessandra Belloni's new production of TARANTELLA SPIDER DANCE

Tarantella: Spider Dance is Alessandra Belloni's masterwork, celebrating the phenomenon of the Tarantella-- the dance of love and liberation-- still thriving in Southern Italy and catching fire across the world today.  Spider Dance is the Italian River Dance, a cross-cultural musical journey that takes us from its origins in ancient Greece to its deep roots in Italy.  Starting with the birth of Spider Woman, the show follows the story throughout the centuries of this mystical celebration in honor of Dionysus, god of ecstasy and wine.  The Pizzica Tarantata, the erotic trance dance ritual, survived every century's challenges- plague, war, Inquisition, poverty.  Bitten by love or longing for it, the women known as Tarantate performed this frenzied collective ritual dance to free themselves.  But first they had to surrender to the Tarantella's ancient 6/8 rhythm- alive in the tambourines, frame drums and in the love songs and work melodies that contained the healing.

Tickets: $30. Tu purchase: 212-868-4444 (open 9-8 Mon.-Fri.; 10-8 Sat. & 10-6 Sun.) or at www.smarttix.com