[July 2026] We ended up spending our summer holiday in Lecce, in the Apulia region of Southern Italy, because my husband was attending a special Tai Chi workshop there.
On this particular day, he returned from his lesson earlier than expected.
The reason?
That evening, there was to be a performance at the castle in Lecce, featuring only those who hold a black belt.
So, my husband—who is not a black belt—and I went to watch.
Having only ever attended Tai Chi-related events in very informal, rugged settings, I was prepared to perhaps sit on a castle wall; instead, I found rows of chairs and a proper stage area, much like the setup for a ballet performance we had seen a few days earlier.
And, just like that ballet, although it was scheduled to begin at 9:00 PM, it didn’t actually start until past 9:15.
The event was a collaboration between a Lecce-based association dedicated to the Sicilian singer Franco Battiato and a local Tai Chi school.
Battiato is a well-known figure in Italy, and it seems his personal philosophy shares common ground with Taoism—the very foundation of Tai Chi.
Personally, I wasn’t familiar with the singer, nor do I know much about Taoism, so I found the spoken-word segments a bit tedious.
However, the two local male singers had magnificent voices, and the Tai Chi performance itself gave me a whole new appreciation for the practice.
Usually, Tai Chi is performed in a quiet environment without music, but for this event, the movements were choreographed to the songs of Franco Battiato.
When set to music, Tai Chi truly transforms into contemporary dance.
The solo performance by my husband’s instructor—a 75-year-old man—was particularly wonderful; it was, in every sense, a dance.
He must have put in a great deal of practice.
His movements were perfectly in sync with the music, and he even finished exactly as the song concluded.
It seems that Tai Chi can be practiced even into old age; my husband mentioned that there are many older people in his class.
Seeing it performed with music like this made me think that it might be something I’d like to try myself in the future.
However, there was a moment at the end of the performance where everyone had to hold hands—that part felt a bit uncomfortable to me.
Incidentally, the venue—a castle known as the Castle of Charles V—was built in the mid-16th century as a fortress to defend against invasions by the Ottoman Turks and forces from North Africa.
We had only gone to watch the performance, and although we talked about coming back to visit again later, we never actually ended up returning.
