About Us | melbournetarantella

Melbourne School of Tarantella

is the first school dedicated to Southern Italian traditional dances in Australia since 2011.

Born with the desire to preserve and share the rich tradition of the group of dances known as Tarantella, the school offers weekly classes for adults, school incursion, community workshops, dance and music performances for public and private events.

Tarantella is a dance of many different codes and symbolism that allows individual expression in a group setting.

We believe that dance is still a needed tool of communication and we thrive to create a welcoming and supportive enviroment where people of all ages and cultural backgrounds can connect and cooperate while learning the richness of this forgotten tradition.

Our performing troupe together with Sanacori music ensemble showcase music and dances from the South of Italy with a fresh contemporary feel while keeping truthful to the tradition.

Rosa Voto

Founder and artistic director of the Melbourne School of Tarantella.

Rosa Voto is an Italian born performing artist . She studied ballet and jazz dance at Hamlyn Academy in Florence, Italy, and was exposed to Southern Italian traditional dances and music since childhood by her family ancestors from Puglia and Calabria.

Rosa has established her practise with the Melbourne School of Tarantella with the participation to numerous multicultural festivals and events across the country.

She has also developed specific dance and movement programs for primary and secondary schools, nursing homes and community centres. These programs fuse together the teaching of folk dances with elements of dance and movement therapy, to help participants achieve physical, emotional and social integration.

In 2013 Rosa ideated and directed “TerraMare”, a community dance and theatre project funded by Moreland City Council.

The project invited migrants with no performing experience to share their experiences and stories of hope, abandon and belonging in a staged play.

Aria award winner singer and songwriter Kavisha Mazzella also partecipated and contributed to project with original and traditional music.

In 2014 Rosa was asked to represent the Southern Italian community of Australia at Medimex Conference in Bari, Italy.

Other work by Rosa:

2024: Rapture:A Healing Journey of Transformation. A multidisciplinary and collaborative exploration of the trance ritual of the Pizzica and Tarantism and stories of women.

2022: Meridiana Festival, TwoSisty, Brunswick. Celebrating 10 years of the Melbourne School of Tarantella with dance and music
2021: Pentridge Tells Movement Choir, community project.
2020: Vocabulary of popular gesture. Ongoing project.
2018: Coordinator and facilitator of dance and music program for elderly citizen at various location of City of Melbourne
2018: "Mothers and Children" art and play project manager, City of Moreland
2017: Facilitator of Creative Movement and Play at Banskia Gardens Community house-Youth engagement program
2017: Dublin Theatre Festival with Ranters Theatre
2017: Movement to Music workshops. Project REAL (Re-engagement Education and Learning Program), Outer Urban Project
2017: Place activation at Wilson Avenue, Brunswick,Sydney Road Street Party
2016: Choreographer and performer for theatre production “Come away with me to the end of the world” by Ranters Theatre
2014: Representative of Southern Italian community in Australia at Medimex Conference, Bari, Italy
2014: “TerraMare” community dance theatre project. With the participation of Kavisha Mazzella
2013: Brunswick Music Festival with Kavisha Mazzella and La Voce Della Luna
2013: Actress in movie “Partisan”, by Ariel Kleinman
2013: Conductor of folk music and dance interventions in Melbourne Eastern Suburbs nursing homes for “Memory Lane Project”.
2012: Brunswick Music Festival. Dancer for Kavisha Mazzella.

Rosa travels regularly to the South of Italy to extend her research and always seeks new ways to present and integrate the dance with the Australian culture.