LROU1Zl00l NEWSLETTER OF THE ITALIAN FOLK ART FEDERATION OF AMERICA VOLUME 5 1984 NUMBER 1 "There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take a lead in the introduction of a new order of things." Niccolo Machiavelli Yes, we at I.F.A.F.A. have taken the lead. In 1977 we embarked on a new and bold venture, uncertain of its success. We formed a Federation of Italian Folk Groups for the purpose of preserving and fostering interest in Italian folklore in the U.S. Because of you, members, friends and readers of Tradizioni who have supported us spiritually and financially, our venture has been given recognition and a direction clearly for success. Our firm committment is to go forward. To date, contributions to our special fund appeal amount to $1611.00. The list of contributors appears elsewhere in this issue. We wish to thank all who responded to date and encourage others to make a donation, large or small, to keep Tradizioni alive. We cherish and need your support. The next issue is scheduled for January, 1985. Count on it. Anthony F. LePera, Editor in Chief FOLK DANCE by Dr. Pino Gala geometric designs, portray ceremony and characteristics of a culture, because it I S il (Translated and adapted fo r Tradi zioni by myth of ml mic daily activities and spontaneous creation, a soc ial !an8u~"~:e Karen Marie Breda) iu nctions. a style that perpetuates itself, ,,- s ,r is handed down through generations. The Origin of the Dance The Evolution and Preservation of the The first human representations of Italian Folk Dance However, with the widespread the dance were spontaneous expressions of The study of Italian folk dance offers a industrialization of peasant life, spirituality, or religion (from religere key to the historical interpretation of an contemporary dances are mass-marketed. meaning to gather, to unite). Dance took ancient time and allows us to catch a The result. especially in the last ten yeal S, on a magical, superstitious, evocative, glimpse of the diffusion of traditions is a slow defunctionalization of folk declarative or propitiatory meaning between Italy's peninsular civilization and dance, a reduction, a pollution, a according to the function that it served. those of other civilization of the fertile strangulation of its very existence. It was a n integrating feature of ancient Mediterranean basin; between the Today, in Italy, the far mel the religious events. behavior of the peasant and that of the shepherd, the fisherm an, In essenG, In t he ceremonial · (lance. t·l1e nobleman; and the significance of the 'village culture' is unckrgoing all commun ity gathered around a real or cultural bridge that Italy represents for important phase of tr ansitl o ll. Fulk im agi nalY divine image (the Circle dance), Europe and the Afro-Asian continents. creativity and folk an ri sk 1) '- il1g o r (liong a sacred path (the processional). Dance, therefo re, is a complex overtaken by a swift mo villfJ <" lo luria:) ImJividual, couple, circle and line dances manifestation of the Idiosyncratic that does not allow for the aSS imilation of were represe ntations of a ritual , a human a new value system. event o r a divine lege nd. Even the MARK YOUR CALENDAR Our duty is to learn the forms of tolk contradance assumed a symbolic, for the music that still exist in order to maintain 7th National Italian ritual istic mean ing. the significance of, the style of, and the The association between movem ent FOLK ART CONFERENCE desire for '!a f",sta'. 0 and rhythmic/melodic expression gives In Philadelphia the dance vital positive values. Dance is Oct. 19,20,21,1984 Dr. Pino Gala, a graduate in theater movemel.t, rhythm, an output of physical WORKSHOPS in It"lian folk dance. history f, um the University of Florence, and spiritual energy, sexual provocation music, other folk arts, exchange of ideas. Italy, i' ;; pecialiLing in Tadizione Popolare therefore life, flowing, dynamic AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE at the University of Rome . Dr. Gala is an strength, 'festa'! FOR THOSE WHO ATTEND expert in Italian folk music and dance Frequent ly , dance figures outline with extensive field experir nce . -----.-.--------------------------~ tribes. Interestingly, Sicily at one time OF PAST Siell Y was full of forests and navigable rivers. BY LUCIA TERRIZZI Palermo and Syracuse were among the largest and richest cities in the world. For 1500 years Syracuse, the first city of How many of us are aware of Sicily's Sicily, was the richest and most powerful historical past, her sufferi ~g, her ordeal (/><b~<Q>~'~ in all Europe. Indeed, Sicily was a rich and wonder if we Sicilians ask ourselves, ~ paradise, filled with luscious scenery, "Who are we?" Our past has deftnitely ~ ~ abundant forests filled with oak, made us what we are today. The effects ~ FOLK DANCES, ~ chestnut, pine and fir, especially in the of the invasions that our ancestors regions from Mount Etna south to suffered are shown on our faces. Our COSTUMES Agrigento. Persian traders in the tenth past, greatly mixed with that of many century knew Sicily as rich in cereals and nations, is unchangeably ours. Whether cattle. Her wheat was exported event to we have Arab, Greek, Spanish or all the AND Egypt. Sicily indeed had helped othel above and much more in us, this "has countries with ther resources and she is formed our character" and we are the CUSTOMS OF ITALY positively a paradise to remember. proud recipients of a rich cultural Foreign invaders came as predators. heritage. The words of the Greek 128 pages includes illustrations, The invasions exhausted Sicily terribly. geographer Strabo linger in my mind, "As 171 dances with d8lCription and During these conquests the land for the goodness of the land, why should music, information about Italy, deteriorated leaving no more forests, and I speak of it when it is talked about by costumes, customs, etc. $9.50. not one navigable river: totally devastated everyone?" An educational tape with music is and exploited. The most anCient to have inhabited available for the dance = $6.00. As for her culture during the Spanish Sicily were the Cyclopes (Greek Add $1.00 for handling and postage Conquest which occurred somewhat late Mythology) and the Laestrogones. Thei r for first book and tape, add 50 in the Middle Ages, foreign visitors could language is unknown. Afterward, came cents for each additional book. not make up their minds whether the Sicans. These were Iberians, Sicilians fashioned themselves in Italian ongi nati ng from North A fr ica. I twas or Spanish or other. Spanish manners and from them that the island was called Please make check or money order behavior were accepted as the outward Sicania, formerly known as Trinacria. payable to: sign of genti Ii ty, and many masquerades VI/hen Troy was captureci, TOjans escaped Elba F. Gurzau - 1325 West and carnivals remained part of Sicilian in boats, settled In Sicily as neighbors of Rooseve.lt Blvd. Philadelphia, Pa. life. the Sicans and took the name of 19140 -: (215) 324-1250. Although today she is part of the Elymians. They were joined by some Italian nation, Sicily is uniquely different Phoenicians who, leaving Troy, went first from her neighboring mainland. She to Libya, then to Sicily. remains the archaeological museum of The Sicels crossed over to Sicily from Europe with temples, theatres and the mainland (Italy) where they were citadels of Magna Graecia, Roman bridges living. (One of the Sicel Kings, Italus, and aqueducts, Saracen mosques, houses named the peninsula, Italia, after and towers and Norman churches, castles himself.) Arriving in Sicily, the Sicels and palaces. As for the Sicilians, they still defeated the Sicans in battle and, as they plea to Spain to rescue her, as she ~how the Arab physical type with drove them to the South and West of the yearned for her independence. Among or.casional Norman characteristics in island, gave it the name of Cicilia instead most Sicilians, Italian soil had been some of the women who have fair hair of Sicania. Several hu ndred years later the unknown to them. It was easier to travel and blue eyes. Greeks came to Sicily. When the Greek to Tu nisia or Malta than to Naples or There is such contrast from ancient tyrants overtook Sicily, Greek became farther north. Sicily to the modern one. I truthfully the official language. It was not until the mid 1800's that lament over her drastic changes and relish 1 n the eorly Middle Ages Sicily became Sicily bream e united to the Ilalian her fame and riches of long ago With ali ,I colony of North Africa. adopted its natiun. As you see, Sicily was never part conquests behind, will there ever again be \1cJslem practices and the official of Italy and has been Italian for only a another country who'll have dominion la'lguage became Arabic. Some Arabic I!ttle mOle than a century. Sicily has been over her) 0 wOI'd s and expreSSICHl ilre still in use a gateway, divider, linking Europe and bJitor's ,\;ot(' today and were it 110t for the L.atll; Afl ica. Sicily, far outnumbers all other 1·1l/.)rtIUl<ltclv ye_,-( Sicil" II<1s £I,«,lill TOngue, Sicily lad ay WOLI Id be ',peak ilHJ ~ !slands 011 the number of inVasions that /WCII illl\lded, tllis rilllc /) \' .\'\ F( J: lanqui;tge similar to that of Mal t,; alld d('vJ5Iated and influenced her culture. No:th Africa. She shared in the civilization of \.