a nervous disease characterized by hysteria and popularly believed to be curable by dancing or manifested by a mania for dancing: prevalent in S Italy during the 16th and 17th cent.
See tarantism in American Heritage Dictionary 4
(tărˈən-tĭzˌəm)
noun
A disorder characterized by an uncontrollable urge to dance, especially prevalent in southern Italy from the 15th to the 17th century and popularly attributed to the bite of a tarantula.