THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE ITALIAN FOLK ART FEDERATION OF AMERICA

On Saturday, October 3, there were numerous classes on a variety of subjects such as learning dances like the “Tarantella Girgente” from Agrigento Sicily and “Tarantella Bim Bom Ba” from Campagnia (I participated in this session and it was not too hard to learn, it had stomps, spins and the group moving together in a circle.)

There were also sessions on history of the Italian National Anthem, Choir (where we practiced two songs, “Torna a Sorriento” and “Reginella Campagnola”), the making of the traditional Bomboniera Abbruzzese, Italian Village Life Through Folk Songs, and Malocchio: Healing and Italian Superstitious Stories from Family & Friends.

The evening portion started at 6:00 pm with a cocktail hour. This was followed by a dinner banquet called Festa Folkloristica. In addition to the meal it included a parade of costumes which were quite colorful, diverse, and representative of many parts of Italy. There were three costumes from the Abruzzo region. Those from the Choir Class, including me, sang the two songs we had learned earlier in the day: “Torna a Sorriento” and “Reginella Campagnola”.

There were three different dance performances by groups from Philadelphia, Milwaukee & Connecticut. There were also group dances during which the event attendees were invited to join. Through the evening live music was played by Munier Mandolin & Guitar Orchestra. The entire evening was a celebration of the Italian Folk Arts which I found to be a great success. If you are interested in learning more about the IFAFA, please visit their website: http://www.italianfolkartfederation.org/. And, if you have questions about the website or membership in general, please contact Jackie Capurro, IFAFA Board Secretary, at viva_IFAFA@hotmail.com

AMHS member Nancy Coviello attended the recent conference of the Italian Folk Art Federation of America (IFAFA) on October 2–3 in Philadelphia, PA. She wanted to share the following information with our members, in the hopes of raising more awareness and interest in this annual conference (perhaps a future AMHS trip?). On Friday, October 2, the conference opened with a membership meeting to discuss the status of the group and announce board plans for the coming year.

The meeting was followed by a public event which included food, wine, music and dance. Members of the organization taught anyone who wanted to learn a series of dances including the “Scopa” (the Broom dance), the “Tarantella Villaggio” (the Chaos dance) and the “Codiglione”, the Italian version of the Cotillion dance.