Liscio or ballo liscio ("smooth" or "smooth dance" respectively in Italian) is a genre of music originating in the 19th century in the northern

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

region of

Romagna Romagna () is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy. Etymology The name ''Romagna'' originates from the Latin name ''Romania'', which originally ...

under the influence of Viennese ballroom dances including the

mazurka The Mazurka ( Polish: ''mazurek'') is a Polish musical form based on stylised folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, with character defined mostly by the prominent mazur's "strong accents unsystematically placed on the seco ...

waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...

polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...

schottische The schottische is a partnered country dance that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian-era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina (Spanish ...

march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...

. It later became popular and spread to the rest of the country. The

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

, which was also a 19th-century invention, features prominently. The tradition contrasts with older

Italian folk dance 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 in southern Italy, and the modern revivals of fol ...

s in which the

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

was the primary instrument.

Ballo liscio in Romagna

, the phenomenon of the public and popular dance called "liscio" has created a unique universe and it has revolutionised the approaches to social, community and festive contexts, because it managed to blend different social strata and to allow a broad and inclusive identification process for higher but also more humble social classes. Nowadays, this universe is home to many different protagonists: it gives employment to a huge number of musicians, singers, dancers, dance halls, record companies and media (TV, radio, local magazines). They form part of a rich cultural industry, held together by a powerful territorial and traditional binding force which is typical of Romagna's folklore. In its essence, "liscio" is a combination of music and dance: its style is easily recognisable because it is rousing, with a cadenced rhythmic style and full of technical virtuosities. Nowadays, even if liscio performances have decreased in favour of more contaminated and mixed songs, many music bands maintain this genre in their musical repertoire. This tradition of Romagna, besides being a varied enterprise, is a fundamental tool for the valorisation of the immaterial cultural heritage of the territory.

Ballo liscio in California

immigrants to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

brought the liscio tradition to California in the early 1900s. Central to the California tradition are

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

, and

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, sometimes supplemented by

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

and

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

. The ballroom music of Italian immigrants underwent a strong Latin American influence by the 1950s. The repertoire of California ballo liscio musicians is diverse, including uniquely Italian dances like the

tarantella Tarantella () is a group of various Southern Italy, southern Italian Italian folk dance, folk dances originating in the regions of Calabria, Campania, Sicilia, and Apulia. It is characterized by a fast Beat (music), upbeat tempo, usually in Ti ...

; pan-European

round dance Modern social round dance, or round dancing, is a choreographed and cued ballroom dance that progresses in a circular counter-clockwise pattern around the dance floor. The two major categories of ballroom dances found in round dancing are the s ...

forms; the American

foxtrot The foxtrot is a smooth, progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band (usually vocal) music. The dance is similar in its look to waltz, although the rhythm is in a time ...

; the Spanish

jota Jota may refer to: __NOTOC__ * Iota (Ι, ι), the name of the 9th letter in the Greek alphabet; * (figuratively) ''Something very small'', based on the fact that the letter Iota (lat. i) is the smallest character in the alphabet; * The name of the ...

and

paso doble Pasodoble (Spanish language, Spanish: ''double step'') is a fast-paced Spanish military march used by infantry troops. Its speed allowed troops to give 120 steps per minute (double the average of a regular unit, hence its name). This often wa ...

; the Latin American

rhumba Rhumba, also known as ballroom rumba, is a genre of ballroom music and ballroom dance, dance that appeared in the East Coast of the United States during the 1930s. It combined American big band music with Afro-Cuban rhythms, primarily the son cub ...

; and the Caribbean

beguine The Beguines () and the Beghards () were Christianity, Christian laity, lay religious orders that were active in Western Europe, particularly in the Low Countries, in the 13th–16th centuries. Their members lived in monasticism, semi-monastic ...

. Several bands continue to play ballo liscio repertoire in California, including the bands Zighi Baci & Mazurka Madness which both play regularly at

Caffe Trieste Caffè Trieste is an internationally known coffeehouse, Retail, retail store, and former Franchising, franchise in San Francisco Bay Area, San Francisco. The original cafe, opened in 1956, was the first espresso-based coffeehouse on the West Co ...

in North Beach, Caffe Acustico, Paul & Emily, the Hot Frittatas, the Graventsein Mandolin Ensemble, and Gus Garelick.

References

{{reflist

External links

Tenebre Infinite (L. Andrini), mandolin/guitar, Italian ballo liscio dance tune
Italian folk dances Ballroom dance Culture in Emilia-Romagna

Ballo liscio in Romagna

Ballo liscio in California

See also

References

External links