The year was 1983, at La Festa di San Rocco, the Feast of Saint Rocco, in the Apulia region of southern Italy. Alessandra Belloni grasped her moon-shaped tamburello and stepped boldly into the ronda, a circle of thirty male drummers.

She followed the frenetic rhythm of the pizzica-tarantata while men dueled in the center of the circle, slashing through the air with their bare hands as they performed the ancient knife dance la scherma. They eyed her with displeasure, as if she were crashing a bachelor party.