tarantism

Noun

tarantism (usually uncountable, plural tarantisms)

1. (usually) An extreme urge to dance, popularly thought to have been caused by the bite of a tarantula (Lycosa tarantula) and prevalent in southern Italy in the 15th through 17th centuries.
   • This dancing mania or tarantism prevailed during the whole of the 17th century — and Baglivi, one of the best physicians of that time, made it the subject of a dissertation. He supports his history of the symptoms by the testimony of his father, […]1835, James Johnson, The Medico-chirurgical Review, page 53
   • The position depicted is often seen to characterize rituals of tarantism, used for centuries in southern Italy and elsewhere to treat victims of the tarantula's bite, expressing personal and social crises (De Martino 2005).2012, Hélène Neveu Kringelbach, Jonathan Skinner, Dancing Cultures: Globalization, Tourism and Identity in the Anthropology of Dance, Berghahn Books, →ISBN, page 60

   Synonyms:

   choreomania, dancing mania