watch video clip ALESSANDRA BELLONI is a singer, percussionist, dancer and actress who stands as one of the most important voices of traditional southern Italian music and dance today. She is artist-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Alessandra is Artistic Director and Founder of I Giullari di Piazza (the Players of the Square). For her mastery of musical styles-both at home and abroad-she has been acclaimed as one of the greatest living percussionists in the world, and has her own signature series of Italian tambourines designed with the largest percussion industry in the world, Remo Inc.

TARANTELLA - SPIDER DANCE Alessandra  Belloni & I GIULLARI DI PIAZZA New production is now available for touring: TARANTELLA - SPIDER DANCE THE MYSTICAL POWER OF TARANTELLA To view a VIDEO of EXCERPTS from TARANTELLA - SPIDER DANCE TARANTELLA - SPIDER DANCE DATES

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Thursday, July 2, 2009   2:00 pm CROSS DRUMMING PERCUSSION FESTIVAL Workshop and concert master class and hands on workshop of SOuthern Italian tamboruines and framde drums technique followed by the one-woman show RHYTHMS IS THE CURE workshop and concert are dedicated to the ehaling power of the Tarantella dance and rhythms and chants and drumming in honor of the BLack MAdonna, sponsored also by REMO and PRO-Mark Conservatory of Warsaw , Poland Stas and Pavel festival@percussion-art-pl Friday, July 3, 2009   7:30 pm TARANTELLA SPIDER DANCE - concert - one woman show TARANTELLA – SPIDER DANCE - with Alessandra Belloni Internationally acclaimed tambourine virtuoso Alessandra Belloni will perform the celebrated Tarantella – Spider Dance here at The Abbey in her only appearance in the UK this year.  It is not to be missed!  7.30 pm          £10 (£8) The Tarantella harks back to the ancient myth of the spider Arachne, who challenges the Goddess Athena to a weaving  contest.   Arachne wins and Athena, acting  in a fit of jealousy, destroys her competitor's creation.  A humiliated Arachne commits suicide, hanging  herself from a tree. Athena then transforms her into a  spider, thus condemning her to weave her web forever.   The show continues with the Dance of the Tarantula, a ritual dance of liberation,  in which  women symbolically expel the poison of the mythical bit of the tarantula - also known as "the bite of love". The traditional Tarantella was a dance to celebrate new energy and expel the “old poison” from the body. The Abbey Sutton Courtenay Abingdon Oxfordshire OX14 4AF tel:  01235 847401 fax: 01235 847608 email: admin@theabbey.uk.com anna@theabbey.uk.com Saturday, July 4 - Sunday, July 5, 2009 RHYTHM IS THE CURE workshop RHYTHM IS THE CURE - with Alessandra Belloni   Southern Italian folk dances and rituals are joyous forms of music and dance therapy that been a source of healing for hundreds of years.  In this workshop we’ll learn ancient Neopolitan chants used to honour the Black Madonna and to invoke her healing blessing.  Saturday 4 – Sunday 5 July     £135/£150 (sg) We’ll also learn the healing dance of the Pizzica Tarantata with its wild rhythms and fast steps, the sensual Tammuriata and the Calabrian spinning dance.   Held as a sacred ritual, students dance inside a circle of tambourine players and are encouraged to wear white (skirts for women).  Alessandra Belloni is the only woman in the UK, Italy and America to use this powerful tambourine style combined with singing and dancing – and her visit to the Abbey her only performance and workshop in the UK this year.  The Abbey Sutton Courtenay Abingdon Oxfordshire OX14 4AF tel:  01235 847401 fax: 01235 847608 Anna email: admin@theabbey.uk.com

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Please contact Carlos

EL ESPÕRITU DEL SUR
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Booking:

Carlos Abadias carlos@espiritudelsur.com
Juana Burillo juana@espiritudelsur.com

ALESSANDRA BELLONI ~
internationally renown percussionist, singer-dancer
REMO Signature series artist
PRESENTS
Special Healing Dance & Percussion workshop focusing on the origins of the Tarantella as a healing dance of purification

RHYTHM IS THE CURE
Click Here
for Current Workshop Dates and Times

Featuring Southern Italian ritual dances used as music and dance therapy combined with their unique style of tambourine, and focusing on the ancient healing trance dance of the Tarantella, used to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula.

In Part 1 we will review the rhythms and chants in honor of the Black Madonna known as Tammoriata – done  in honor of the Black Madonna (originally ancient rites for the Earth Goddess Cybele).
Part 2 Students will also learn the trance 6/8 rhythm and  dance of SAN ROCCO called the : THE SPINNING DANCE,  Based on a trance tarantella from Calabria in honor of San Rocco, dating back to the Middle ages, used as a healing ritual against the plague. Everyone spins together in a spiral and in a circle.
The final part will be dedicated to the healing trance dance of purification called Pizzica Tarantata, used to cure a mental disorder called Tarantismo, which afflicted mainly women, who felt stuck in the spider web of their society. Every student will learn the steps of the Pizzica, which are very fast and energetic. Part of the ritual takes place on the floor, and the dance is actually a spider-like movement on the ground. This part has the most amazing healing effect, releasing stress, blockage of sexual energy, as well as opening the heart and throat chakra according to the movements, as if coming out of an imaginary SPIDERWEB.
Alessandra will end the sessions using the ocean drum, creating the sound of the waves in a final relaxation invoking the healing power of the water.  Please wear white and red, the ritual colors of the Tarantate. 
(Please do not wear black.)

Cost: $50 For more information (201) 224-3833  or  ABelloni@aol.com  www.alessandrabelloni.com
 FIRST PRESBITERIAN CHURCH –
731 UNDERCLIFF AVE. Edgewater NJ 07020

New Book/DVD Rhythm is the Cure Southern Italian Tambourine Featuring Alessandra Belloni from MelBay Publishing Available Now! from AlessandraBelloni.com More Info

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