"Tarantella for the Winter Solstice," a NY Stage show work in progress that organizers hope to turn into "an Italian Riverdance." 

Many Myths surround the Tarantella. That a Tarantula bite causes a person to dance in a Frenzy, others that the person bitten dances frantically to sweat profusely to purge the poison. Actually, the Wolf Spider is very timid, and it's bite would be similar to a mosquito bite. See Wikipedia Facts below. 

The Tarantella Dance music is probably the most recognized song of all the Italian folklore music.  It literally means "tarantula" because the dance is done buy everyone in a great big circle going clockwise, until the music in the set changes, becomes faster, then they quickly change the direction to counterclockwise, this continues several times and is fun to see who keeps up.  You can see this dance at authentic Italian weddings, is often the theme song of many restaurants and pizzerias. Generally played with a strong mandolin (Italian guitar) presence, each region has its own version. 

The tarantella, a fast jig-like number, is a traditional feature at Italian-American wedding receptions. But the dance (and the accompanying music) has ancient, pre-Christian roots in Puglia, Calabria, and other parts of southern Italy, where it wasn?t done for fun. 

Devotees believed that the dance cured a kind of temporary madness caused by the bite of a tarantula, a spider. 

Today, even without a spider-bite, the dance and its drum-driven rhythms can put performers and audience into a pleasurable zone. 

?In Melpignano, Puglia, 75,000 people have attended a kind of techno/tarantella performance," reports Alessandra Belloni, the singer-actress-drummer who is developing the "Tarantella" project. 

Belloni is co-founder of the Italian music-and-theater company I Giullari di Piazza. and has been a regular presence on Island stages (the College of Staten Island, Snug Harbor, the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum) for the past 25 years. 

She has been studying, recording and performing various tarantellas since the 1970s. Small towns in Southern Italy cherish their own unique tarantellas, but all have a comparable beat or rhythm. 

While she and I Giullari have recorded/performed many variations, new mixes are being created for the "Tarantella" project.   ?We are experimenting with loops and sampling, accompanied by live music," Ms. Belloni said last week. 

Fifteen musicians and dancers will perform "Tarantella for the Winter Solstice". The solstice, the shortest day of the year is actually two days after the concert. 

?Our drumming, singing and dancing encourages the sun to return," Ms. Belloni said. "It always works." 

The book or story of the big "Tarantella" show involves a journey through time made by a shaman-healer accompanied by Dionysios, the god of wine and pleasure. 

?At the moment," Ms. Belloni said, "we are refining and developing the plot."

http://www.silive.com/entertainment/arts/index.ssf/
2010/12/not_your_grandmothers_tarantel.html

According to historical superstitions, the spider's bite can produce severe symptoms called tarantism.

Description
These spiders are rather large, the females being around 27 mm (1 in.) in body length and the males around 19 mm (0.75 in.). As with other wolf spiders, after they hatch the baby spiders climb on their mother's abdomen and ride around with her for some time until they are sufficiently mature to survive on their own. After leaving their mother's protection, the young spiders disperse and dig burrows. Females live in their burrows all their lives, but the mature males leave the protection of burrows and wander about looking for mates. The males can live for two years, and they die some time after reaching sexual maturity. The females can live for four years or more. During the winter these spiders hibernate in their burrows.

They are a nocturnal species and generally lurk at the mouths of their burrows waiting for prey, so it is unlikely that people would encounter them. Unlike the Salticidae (Jumping spiders), which may exhibit curiosity about humans and may be content to wander around on one's hand, the Lycosidae (wolf spiders) have a very strong tendency to flee at the approach of any large animal. They have quite good eyesight, so it is unlikely that a human could approach them unseen, and it is relatively difficult to capture them because they keep moving and can run very fast. It is unlikely that humans could come in unintentional contact with them. When wolf spiders are cornered, they show no inclination to make threat displays, much less to advance on a human's hand with the intention of biting.

Tarantism
It is believed a person bitten by one of these spiders must be treated by indulging in a special kind of dancing. The dance, or some version of it, is now known as the tarantella. In fact, however, the bites of this spider are not known to cause severe symptoms in humans, much less endanger human life.

All but one family of spiders, the Uloboridae have venom. Venom is important to the spider as a means to kill its prey, and, secondarily, to protect itself. Evolutionarily, the venoms were tailored for subduing insect prey, and mammal species can have vastly different reactions to the same spider venom. The venom of the Lycosidae is not particularly toxic to human beings, and is no more painful than the sting of a bee.

Wolf spiders are capable of defensive bites, and some South American species may give bites that are medically significant. However, in general their presence works very much in favor of humans wherever they are found.[citation needed] Wolf spiders will inject venom freely if continually provoked. Symptoms of their venomous bite include swelling, mild pain and itching. Though usually considered harmless to humans, the bite of some species may be painful. In the past, necrotic bites have been attributed to some South American species, but further investigation has indicated that those problems that did occur were probably actually due to bites by members of other genera.[2] Australian wolf spiders have also been associated with necrotic wounds, but careful study has likewise shown them not to produce such results.[3]

Given the low toxicity of wolf spider bites and the small likelihood of actually being bitten, medical research efforts have not been directed toward the bites of Lycosa tarantula.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycosa_tarantula

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