page_title: Italian folk dance
section_title: Weapon dances
hierarchical_section_title: Italian folk dance / Folk dances by region / Northern Italy / Weapon dances
caption_attribution_description: La Giga di Rocca Grimalda
context_page_description: Italian Folk Dance has been an integral part of Italian culture for centuries. Dance has been a continuous thread in Italian life from Dante through the Renaissance, the advent of the Tarantella, and the modern revivals of folk music and dance.
context_section_description: Several types of weapon dances are known from Italy, the mock battle (Moresca), sword dances and stick dances. A number of these are from the Piedmont region of Northern Italy:
  Spadonari di San Giorgio: A sword dance done for the festival of San Giorgio in the Piedmont village of San Giorio di Susa. There is a historical prologue section, followed by the sword dance proper, and then a procession and banquet. The six swordsmen, selected from the best looking men in the village and costumed in white with red vertical bands and black felt hats with flowers, are armed with a large, slightly curved sword. There are five figures to the dance all performed to a drum roll in march rhythm:
  1) With a leap, the dancers turn in the air and move into a square formation and shake their swords
  2) With a short leap, the points of the swords are joined on the ground, then again at shoulder level
  3) They return to place and drag the swords on the ground making a furrow
  4) With four synchronized leaps, all turn east, west, south and north
  5) The swords are exchanged by throwing them in the air
  The dancers then march off to the drum.
  Spadonari di Venaus: Sword dance from Venaus in the Val di Susa done for the feast of San Biagio. Four men clothed in a fastastic imitation of medieval warriors perform with large two-handed swords. The dance lasts about an hour and has only a few figures: raising the sword in salute, circling the sword in the air, striking the sword of their adversary and throwing the swords in the air in exchange.
  Spadonari di San Vicenzo: Done for St. Vincent's Day (January 21) in the village of Giaglione in Val di Susa, four swordsmen in plumed helmets take part in a procession which finishes at the piazza where a mock fight is held.
  Bal dâ Sabbre: A sword dance from Fenestrelle in Piedmont done for the feast of San Luigi (August 25). The dance is done by 16 spadonari preceded by two Heralds and a drummer and followed by a Harlequin and a "Turk". This is not a mock combat but a point-and-hilt type sword dance with typical "rose" figures which imprison the Harlequin. In the second part of the dance, the swords are dropped, and colored ribbons attached to a pole are taken up and woven into braids.
  Lachera: This dance, from the town of Rocca Grimalda in Piedmont, is a transformed weapon dance. According to tradition, it derived from a revolt against the medieval tyrant Isnardo Malaspina. An engaged couple are accompanied in the dance by an escort of two masked Lacheri who do a characteristic dance with high leaps. Also present are three armed figures, two guerrieri and a zuavo.
caption: Lachera group
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