Adult Workshop

Tarantella Dance and Drumming Seminar

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 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 will also learn the Tammorriata, an elegant and sensual dance from Naples performed by couples playing castanets to the rhythm of a large drum, called the Tammorra. The Tammorriata is based upon an improvisational style of drumming and singing usually enacted during the summer rituals in honor of the ancient Earth Goddess Cybele, and now worshipped as the Black Madonna. Students shall be enraptured by these exciting and healing drumming and dancing sessions.

 

April 7, April 14, April 21 and May 5; 1pm - 3pm

The all-inclusive course fee is $300 per participant. Reservations are required and space is limited. To reserve please email education@stjohndivine.org or call the Public Education Office at 212 932 7325.