Natalie Marrone, adjunct assistant professor of dance, along with dance majors Michelle Micca ‘10 and Matina Phillips '10, donated an afternoon of their time and artistic talents at ItaliaFest 2009 in Wake Forest, N.C., on Sept. 12. Micca and Phillips performed as moving statues, a poplar street-fair tradition from Venice, Italy, home of the world’s oldest Festa di Carnevale.
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Marrone and her husband, Scott Bell, supervised young festival goers in mask making.
Accompanied by the roots music ensemble Mebanesville, Marrone led festival goers in dancing the tarantella, a sometimes-courtship, sometimes-ritual-healing dance of ancient origin originally developed within southern mainland and islands communities of the Italic speaking world.
All proceeds from ItaliaFest 2009 will go to the Graham Johnson Cultural Arts Endowment, a philanthropic effort to help enhance arts and performance programming in Wake Forest schools.
With assistance from the North Carolina Dance Festival Project, Marrone ‘s dance company, The DanceCure, is currently planning a multi-city tour of her new work “Strega Stories.” “Strega Stories” is an original modern dance piece choreographed by Marrone based upon interviews with Italian American healers throughout the United States.