Can’t stand spiders? I’m with you. They freak me out. Turns out that a few centuries ago, the natives of Southern Italy invented an entire dance devoted to keeping the spiders away: the tarantella. Making arachnophobia fun since 1528.
Back in the 16th century, a bite from a wooly wolf spider (aka tarantula) was popularly believed to be highly poisonous and to lead to a hysterical condition known as tarantism. It was believed that victims had to engage in frenzied dancing to prevent death from tarantism using a very rhythmic and fast music. The particular type of dance and the music played became known as tarantella.
Now we know that these lil guys are not poisonous (or at least do not inject enough venom to be dangerous to humans), but the dance tradition remains. And The Glorious Ones tips its cap to the early beginnings of this dance style in Armanda’s Tarentella. While this version offers no whirling dervish, it does take a raunchy look at good ol’ sexual innuendo. And I’ll take bawdy wordplay over spiders any day.
Thoughts on Theatre 
