I’m Serena Pellegrino, I’m 22 years old and I’m from Ruffano, Torrepaduli.
I'm a pizzica dancer.
I'm a member of the “La Notte della Taranta” dance troupe,
thanks to which I participated in the Dior fashion show this summer.
We had the honour of working with our choreographer, Sharon Eyal,
and to get to know her artistic vision of dance.
There was a mutual exchange of our art and hers....
And from there began a human work that told the story of each of us,
of each dancer.
Performing during the Dior fashion show was very exciting
because, also thanks to the work of maestro Buonvino,
to the story of Maria Grazia Chiuri,
we were able to do a single work
that presented the sensations that each of us
must bring out
when you want to send a message, even a powerful one, of the soul,
especially what the woman feels.
I think it’s good.
Guys, let's try it.
Wait, go back a little bit.
No, you stay here.
Come closer....
Look at each other.
Shoulders up. Up!
Strong and dignified.
Do you remember the phrase that was written at the fashion show?
“She is clothed with strength and dignity”.
Proud, proud!
Move around each other.
Move closer, move away.... Play!
Change again, your hands, play with your hands.
I'm Alessandra Caiulo, I’m from Lecce
and I'm one of the singers of “La Notte della Taranta”.
Pizzica is an ancient dance,
rooted in our traditions
typical of southern Italy, especially the traditions of Salento.
The courtship pizzica, the “pizzica de core”
is a beautiful pizzica because the men and women never touch each other....
They never touch, but they look for each other: they look with their eyes,
they look with the movements of their bodies
and so one tries to seduce the other,
to court him or just to get a smile out of him,
which is probably what we need most today, right?
When we talk about pizzica and in particular the “courtship pizzica”
we can’t fail to consider the time that has passed
between what the courtship pizzica was many years ago
and what pizzica is today.
Perhaps the role of women has also changed a lot,
in the sense that before things were completely different,
often our women were dedicated to the family, the home,
they were in the tobacco fields....
Maybe they were always one step behind the man.
Society was much more patriarchal, even though there is still much to be done today.
But today women are perhaps more free and more independent,
and this can't help but be conveyed through the dance.
I mean, in the courtship pizzica there's seduction,
there’s courtship...
but I don't know if I like to think that there’s one leading the other
rather than the other way around.
Perhaps in our society, where I’d like to see us as being equal,
even in the courtship pizzica
the men and women play on an equal footing.
You have to listen to your body,
you have to look into the others’ eyes.
But above all, you have to listen to your soul.
And for me, this is pizzica.