Alessandra Belloni

Alessandra Bellon is very proud to announce a series of workshop at the Cathedral of St John the Divine -St James Chapel, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue - near 112 Street- Tarantella Dance and Drumming Seminar  April 7, April 14 and April 21 May 5th  at 1pm The all-inclusive course fee is $300 per participant.  Reservations are required and space is limited to 25  participants.  To reserve please email education@stjohndivine.org or call 212 932 7325. Alessandra Belloni, tambourine virtuoso considered one of the world’s best percussionists, is the only woman in the United States and Italy who specializes in the southern Italian traditional tambourine technique and tarantella rhythms.  She has taught drumming and dancing for the last thirty years and is an artist in residence at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine. This seminar shall give people the means to fortify themselves against daily stresses.  Students shall become empowered through discovery of the ancient art of frame drumming and a technique of music and dance therapy that shall enable them to discover the means to achieve homeostatic balance and inner relief of stress, while restoring spiritual and physical energy.   Each class is designed to follow the method described in Rhythm is the Cure. This enables students to continue their studies independently after the course is complete.  The course consists of four two-hour classes.  Students shall begin each session with an hour of drumming followed by an hour of dance.  Students will learn the variations of the basic 6/8 rhythm of the Tarantella that originated as music and dance therapy to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula. The dance movements represent an unbroken chain of inspiration from pre-Christian times to the present.  They embody and culminate the different dance traditions that we know today as Flamenco, Belly Dance, and Tribal Dance.  Students shall be enraptured by these exciting and healing drumming and dancing.