For thirty five years, Alessandra Belloni has devoted her personal & professional life to researching and excavating the mystical-erotic trance traditions of Southern Italy, in particular, the origins of the Tarantella, an indigenous form of music & dance therapy, practiced by peasant culture for centuries.
Alessandra Belloni is the acknowledged modern musical master & teacher of the frame drum & tambourine, the primary instruments of this ancient lineage.
These powerful trance inducing drums are the among the oldest known musical instruments in human history.
It is now in modern times being revived, gaining prominence as both a cultural and spiritual form of ecstatic expression. Many have nurtured the resurrection of the ceremonial & musical traditions of the great Goddess, prevalent throughout the Mediterranean world. Alessandra offers her workshops world-wide, "Rhythm is the Cure," teaching frame drum & these ancient trance inducing rhythms as a means of somatic release & beauty.
The purpose of this workshop is to introduce general audiences to a very rich tambourine and folk dance culture with an active current performance practice in Southern Italy and also to bring women back in touch with their lost tradition of drumming.
This work has taken place at many universities and institutions including: Juilliard School of Music, Conservatory of Milan, Oberlin College, Conservatory of Venice, California Institute of the Arts, McGill University, Cornell University, UNESP University of San Paolo (Brazil), and many other venues listed here.
The Workshop is designed to follow the method described in Alessandra’s book/dvd, “Rhythm is the Cure,” enabling students to continue their rhythmic journey independently after the course is complete.
Rhythm is the Cure/Dance of the Ancient Spider is an intensive healing workshop featuring Southern Italian ritual dances used as music and dance therapy for centuries throughout the Mediterranean. Participants will learn the unique style of tambourine playing and the ancient healing trance dance of the tarantella, used to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula.
Alessandra has offered this workshop in many locales, including: Eselon Institute, Findhorn Foundation (Scotland), COSM (Chapel of the Sacred Mirrors) and many other settings.
History and myth of the healing power of Tarantella Spider Dance.
Annual "Rhythm is the Cure" 7 day Intensive in Tuscany
Alessandra offers her "Rhythm is the Cure" 7 day intensive in stunning Tuscany
for the past 14 years at La Chiara di Prumiano, a beautiful 17th century villa set high in the rural hills of Tuscany's Chianti Classico vineyards that hosts a group of about twenty-five women and men who come from all over the world.
This seven day intensive is also offered in Hawaii and other venues internationally.
“I met Alessandra early on in my drumming. I took her workshop in Vermont at a camp fair. I was in a transitional point in my life. I had been a musician of many other instruments, and still am, but the drums really shifted things in me.” — Judy Piazza
"Learn the true art of Trance Dance, Tammorriata, Spider Dance, ancient song, Pizzica, Tamborello drum. This workshop invites you to Explore and unleash old, venemous energy from the pelvic floor and give rebirth to your body and spirit! Open to men and women."
— flyer from Las Vegas event
