In 2011 famed Italian dancer-singer-percussionist Alessandra Belloni from Rome and New York brought her amazing RHYTHM IS THE CURE concert and workshop to Northern California. www.alessandrabelloni.com
Presented to the community of Mount Shasta by ClayDance Studio and sponsored by EarthAlive Communications, this concert was dedicated to the healing power of drumming and the Tarantella rhythm.
A CULTURAL EVENT Sponsored by EarthAlive Communications
This modern adaptation of the Tarantella “Bite of the Spider” healing dance ritual, practiced by women throughout Southern Italy since ancient times, was created by percussionist Alessandra Belloni to help women from around the world free their minds as well as their bodies, facilitating mental, emotional and sexual healing.
High-definition videos of Alessandra Belloni’s performance RHYTHM IS THE CURE were filmed, edited and produced in Mount Shasta, California by John Veltri and EarthAlive Communications.
Dedicated to John’s paternal grandparents, Giovani and Josephina Veltri who were from Calabria in Southern Italy, the full RHYTHM IS THE CURE performance is now available on DVD from EarthAlive. Write us at info@earthalive.com to learn how you can get a copy.
An exciting, fiery "percussive journey" through the South of Italy, RHYTHM IS THE CURE features songs sung in the Calabrian language, wild percussion, ecstatic dance, and Alessandra’s unique interpretation of the ancient Tarantella “Bite of the Spider” healing dance ritual. Featuring visionary dancer-teacher Deonesea La Fey.
Photography © Marguerite Lorimer.
RHYTHM IS THE CURE
Italy’s Alessendra Belloni performs in Mount Shasta!
The Tarantella dance ritual was named for a highly poisonous wolf spider found in Southern Italy, the tarantula. Ancient belief was that this spider’s bite caused a catatonic hysteria in women called “Tarantism”. That affliction, it is still believed, can only be cured with the use of wild, rhythmic music played with drums, violin and tambourines to hypnotize the suffering woman and take her into a state of flailing, spider-like movements to facilitate catharsis and healing. In modern times this ritual was adapted to help women recover from emotional trauma and physical and sexual abuse.
The oldest documents regarding the relationship between music and exorcism date to around 1100 BC. The healing effects of the Tarantella on the emotional, mental and endocrine systems are currently being explored.
The black-n-white movies Taranta (below) were produced by famed documentary filmmaker Gianfranco Bologna Mingozzi in Salento, Italy, in the 1950s & 1960s.