In
“Please join Alessandra in this beautiful location with a powerful statue of the Black Madonna!”
Experience the healing power of tarantella rhythms with internationally renowned singer, percussionist, and teacher, Alessandra Belloni, 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. The workshop focuses on releasing blockages of energies, breaking the imaginary “spider web” of the subconscious.
Students will begin each session with drumming followed by an hour and a half 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.
Alessandra will also teach chants and songs of devotion to the Black Madonna and to the Sun (Jesce Sole).
During this series of workshops, the participants will learn:
Tambourine Technique:
* The basic technique of holding the drum, with emphasis on arm movement, wrist and elbow technique, and a basic accented fast 6/8 rhythm used for different style tarantellas, which involve different variations of hand technique including finger trills on the tambourine skin.
* Tammorriata: a 4/4 rhythm played on the large drum called the Tammorra, originally from Naples with a strong African influence in the rhythm.
The Tammorriata is an improvisation of drumming and singing, and it is danced during the rituals held in the summer in honor of the Black Madonna.
The workshop is a fiery “journey” through the South of Italy combining the tambourine rhythms with authentic Southern Italian Folk songs such as: haunting love songs, lullabies, processional chants and ritual drumming in honor of the Black Madonna, known as Tammorriata, the authentic Pizzica Tarantata, the healing trance dance from Puglia used as an exorcism to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula, a mental disorder that afflicted mainly women, and which goes back to the ancient Greek rites of Dionysus and trance dances performed as ritual by the women of Southern Italy
The music comes from different regions of Italy, mainly Naples, Calabria, Sicily, Puglia and Sardegna and is available on Alessandra Belloni’s CD, “Tarantelle e Canti d' Amore.
