tarantella

/ˈtɛrənˌtɛlə/

Other forms: tarantellas

A quick, spirited Italian folk dance that involves much spinning and often the playing of tambourines is called the tarantella.

If you have a creepy feeling that tarantella has something to do with spiders, your instincts are not too far off. A tarantella is not an eight-legged creature but is in fact a dance, or the music for it, in lively 6/8 time. It gets its name from the Italian port of Taranto, as does the tarantula. The words are united in an old folk belief that frenzied dancing was required to avoid death after a tarantula bite.

Definitions of tarantella

1. noun

   a lively whirling Italian dance for two persons
   synonyms: tarantelle

   type of:

   social dancing

   dancing as part of a social occasion
2. noun

   music composed in six-eight time for dancing
   type of:

   dance music

   music to dance to