Alessandra Belloni

Alessandra will be joined by special guest instructors:

Father Phil Harmon, Archpriest, founder of Kahumana Farm & Retreat Center, a theologian who specializes in the Divine Feminine and the Black Madonna and will hold classes in the evening giving an orientation to the teachings and practices of the Western Esoteric traditions, the Mystics, and the Saints, the Black Madonna as the Earth-Mother in a Feminine Divine Trinity, with the Holy Sophia, her Celestial-Daughter, and with the Sacred Soul (Holy Spirit) and our Angelic Companions as the Being who unites the Earth and the Heavens.

Auntie Nettie Armitage Lapilio, who will teach on the tradition of PELE, Hawaiian Goddess of the Earth, and the sacred Hula dances in honor of the goddess.

She is a fully recognized Kumu Hula and Hawaiian Cultural Practitioner. She has been teaching Hula, Hawaiian Language and Music for 50 years. She is a practitioner of Ho’oponopono, a Traditional Hawaiian practice for healing both family and professional relationships. She is a highly sought-after professional musician and educator in Hawaiian circles.

Retreat Objectives:

Participants will learn:

• The unique style of tambourine playing and the ancient healing dance of the tarantella, used to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula.
•  Alessandra will also teach sacred chants of the Black Madonna from Southern Italy and other parts of the world.
• To learn the history of this powerful tambourine style, originally done mainly by women, which dates back to the rites of the Mother Earth Goddess Cybele, now worshiped as the Black Madonna and to come to understand the healing and stress-relieving effect of these rhythms and dances.

Students will learn the following rhythms and dance rituals:

TAMMORRIATA  

A powerful rhythm set to an African beat played in 4/4 time in honor of the black Madonna, originally ancient rites for the Earth Goddess Cybele. It accompanies a sensual dance from Naples danced with castanets to the rhythm of the large drum, called Tammorra.

RITMO E DANZA DI SAN ROCCO (SPINNING DANCE)

This dance, originating in Calabria during the Middle Ages. It was danced during the time of the plague to help people release the overpowering fear of death. Due to the trance-inducing movements and incessant spinning, many people enter ecstatic states during this dance, similar to the Whirling Dervish ceremonies.

THE PIZZICA TARANTATA

The wild 6/8 rhythm of the Pizzica, played on medium size tambourines and accompanied by dance and song, to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula, a form of depression that afflicted mainly women. In this healing ritual, participants will play in a circle and dance creating “spider-like” movements on the ground, releasing stress and blockages of energy.