Karen Lüdtke received her DPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford. Aspects of her research on the performance arts and well-being in the context of the Salento have been published in the edited volumes Music as Medicine(Ashgate, London) and Performing Ecstasies(Institute for Mediaeval Music, Ottawa).

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsPrefaceIntroduction: Tarantula TerritorySalentine Tarantulas: Spider Dances and DiscoursesTracking Down the Spider: Research Techniques and IntentionsCrisis, Celebrity and Celebration: Contextualizing Salentine TarantulasPreview: Summarizing this BookPART I: PAST AND PRESENT SPIDER WEBSChapter 1. Seeking St Paul: Historical and Contemporary EnactmentsDances at Galatina: a Crossroads of Old and New TarantatiDances on Screen: Invention versus IntentionMaria’s 1959 Domestic Ritual: a Historical PerformanceAda’s 2001 Dance on TV: a Contemporary PerformanceChapter 2. Webs through Time: Origins and History of TarantismPossible Origins: Searching for Tarantism’s RootsHistorical Interpretations: Explaining the Tarantula’s CultDe Martino’s View: a Key Point of ReferenceRecent Studies: Continuing the Quest for AnswersPART II: THE SPIDER'S CULT TODAYChapter 3. Curing Myths and Fictive Cures: Views of Believers and ScepticsTarantism as Cure: Debates in Favour of the TarantulaSt Paul’s Grotto: a Contested SiteSpider Poisoning: a Contested CaseTarantism as Fiction: Debates Against the TarantulaChapter 4. Ads and Antidotes: Celebrity versus Conservation Taranta-muffin, Techno-pizzica, Tarantavirus: Hybridizing the PizzicaThe Festival of San Rocco: Revitalizing and Commercializing TraditionsLa Notte della Taranta: a Music and Media SpectacleLa Sagra dei Curli: a Community FestivalChapter 5. Sensing Identities and Well-being: Personal Motivations and ExperiencesThe Alla Bua: Music for HealingTanya’s Story: Dancing ColoursAda’s Story: Retrieving SoundnessPART III: FROM RITUAL TO LIMELIGHTChapter 6. SpiderWoMen Transfixed: Negotiating Crisis and CureDiagnosing Spiders: Identifying Tarantula CasesViews on Venom: Interpreting the Spider’s BiteTarantula Alternatives: Choosing Treatment OptionsChapter 7. Tarantula Threads and Showbiz Airs: Fine-tuning PerformancesSpider Sites: Performance PlacesSpider Schedules: Performance TimesTarantula Threads: Past Props and TechniquesShowbiz Airs: Present Props and TechniquesChapter 8. SpiderWoMen Transformed: Celebrating Well-beingMagic Circles: Allowing Music to Take OverRhythmic Intervention: Choosing to EntrainVibrating the Spider’s Web: Tapping a Source of VitalityIntegrating Toxins: Connecting Self and OtherTransforming Identities: Evoking a Sense of BelongingPART IV: CONCLUSIONChapter 9. Dancing Beyond SpidersEvelina’s Story: Living with the TarantulaTarantula Rhythms: Reflections on Performance and Well-beingEpilogueBibliographyFilmographyIndex

“Overall, this book is very well researched and beautifully written. It is a great resource for all—scholars and laypeople—interested in Italian culture and folklore, medical anthropology, and the relationship between the performing arts and healing.”  ·  Italian American Review“The author’s poetical, yet not rhetorical, prose gives the book’s ambitious project a fluent and realistic description that makes you feel as if sitting among the olive trees in Salento or admiring the baroque stuccos of Galatina. ..As a reader one is impressed by how respectful and rigorous is the author’s description of the homes of the “Tarantati” and by her attempt to reach their psychic sufferance.”  ·  Nordic Journal of Music Therapy“In sum, Karen Lüdtke's Dances with Spiderssheds clear and compelling light on how (and why) ancient rituals change over time and serve contemporary needs. Well written and engaging, the author weaves wit into her work... [that] points the way for future research by getting at the real people that postmodern anthropology tends to overlook. Finally, it raises questions that merit further study.”  ·  The Catholic Historical Review