Alessandra Belloni News

You don't have to be Italian to love this unique, fast-paced, riotous holiday play, first published in 1698 and still performed in the streets of Naples and environs.   Come back in time to Southern Italy with ALESSANDRA BELLONI and I GIULLARI DI PIAZZA, the renowned Italian music/theater/dance company, when they present their traditional Southern Italian 'La Cantata dei Pastori,' (The Shepherd's Cantata) a musical family holiday delight, at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th Streets).  Performances December 21 & 22at 8 PM.   

Come back in time to Southern Italy with I GIULLARI DI PIAZZA, the renowned Italian music/theater/dance company, when they present their traditional Southern Italian 'La Cantata dei Pastori,' (The Shepherd's Cantata) a musical family holiday delight, at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th Streets).  Five performances, December 16 & 17 at 8 PM; December 18 at 5 PM; December 21 & 22 at  8 PM.            

Alessandra Belloni and her performance troupe, I Giullari di Piazza, will return June 29 to Cathedral of St. John the Divine with 'Feast of the Tarantati' (Feast of Apulia), an ancient healing tradition with Tarantella trance dances and healing chants for the Black Madonna.  In Italy, the ritual is traditionally celebrated in a church in Apulia. This will be the first time that Alessandra Belloni and I Giullari Di Piazza will reenact the ceremony inside a church in New York.  At the conclusion of the performance, the audience will be invited to join in 'releasing the poison and venom from our bodies and souls.' I Giullari di Piazza is a resident company of Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Internationally honored, singer, percussionist, healer and director Alessandra Belloni, joined by her Italian folk music/theater/dance company I Giullari di Piazza, will present the special holiday celebration 'Mystical Music in Honor of the Black Madonna,' a musical journey around the world to the ancient sacred sites of the Black Madonna.

Internationally honored, singer, percussionist, healer and director Alessandra Belloni, joined by her Italian folk music/theater/dance company I Giullari di Piazza, will present the special holiday celebration 'Mystical Music in Honor of the Black Madonna,' a musical journey around the world to the ancient sacred sites of the Black Madonna.

The Pen Parentis Literary Salon celebrates the holiday season in high style! The December salon is a mingling soiree with wine and appetizers compliments of the Hotel Andaz Wall Street, featuring live music by award-winning jazz guitarist Wilson Montuori and stories from four prolific authors at varying points in their parenting lives and writing careers. Featuring Marie Myung-Ok Lee, author of the novel Somebody's Daughter, Yona Zeldis McDonough, author, most recently, of the novel You Were Meant For Me, Bushra Rehman, author of the novel Corona and co-editor of the anthology Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism, and Raina Wallens, young adult novelist who has written for a variety of online publications, including The Huffington Post. Each author will read from their work and then participate in a salon-style roundtable about their work and lives. The annual Author Mingle celebrates the creative work of writers that are also parents, and is a great place to pick up signed copies of the authors' books.

With October being Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Voices of the Tarantate consisting of an all female ensemble, I arrived to the performance expecting an empowering, feminist show. Voices of the Tarantate did not disappoint on that front, but it ended up being so much more than that.

Joe's Pub presents the release show for Playground, the debut album from Swiss-born percussion wizard Mathias Künzli on Sunday, October 26th at 9:30pm.

Internationally renowned singer/percussionist/dancer ALESSANDRA BELLONI, artist-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine & REMO artist, will present 'RHYTHM IS THE CURE' on Three Saturdays, April 26 & May 3 & 10 at Cathedral of St. John the Divine's Synod Hall. Times are 2-5 pm. Fee: $225 for all three sessions; $75 per session. To register: 212.932.7325 or education@st.johndivine.org.

Internationally renowned singer/dancer/percussionist Alessandra Belloni and I Giullari di Piazza present 'Drums of Illumination,' a program of ritual drumming, trance dances, and chants representing four great cultural traditions: Southern Italian, Native American, Middle Eastern, and African Music. Belloni and I Giullari will be joined by the SilverCloud Native American Singers and Dancers, completing a remarkable group of percussionists, vocalists and dancers, all specializing in healing and ritual music and dance. Sunday, January 5th at 6 PM at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue.

Presented by Theater for the New City: celebrate the Epiphany, The Coming of The Light, in Southern Italian Style with I Giullari di Piazza's

Alessandra Belloni and I Giullari di Piazza return to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where they are artists-in-residence, for a performance of 'Tarantata,' a fiery percussive journey through Southern Italy and Brazil, tonight, October 18 at 8 PM at St. John the Divine, 112th St. & Amsterdam Avenue.

During Italian Heritage & Culture Month, Alessandra Belloni and I Giullari di Piazza will return to St. John the Divine, where they are artists-in-residence, for a performance of their dazzling 'Tarantata,' a feast of Southern Italian music, dance, and ancient legend in which a 'Tarantata' (one who has been bitten by a tarantula) seeks a cure.

Alessandra Belloni and I Giullari di Piazza return to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where they are artists-in-residence, for a performance of 'Tarantata,' a fiery percussive journey through Southern Italy and Brazil, Friday October 18 at 8 PM at St. John the Divine, 112th St. & Amsterdam Avenue.

Alessandra Belloni presented her one-woman show 'Rhythm is the Cure" to a small and intimate audience at the Theater for a New City. The work focused on rhythmic dance and spiritual rehabilitation through percussion-aided chants.

Internationally acclaimed singer/dancer/percussionist Alessandra Belloni, authoritative performer of traditional and ancient Southern Italian music, theater, dance and traditions, will perform her one woman show, 'Rhythm is the Cure,' dedicated to the healing of women through the power of drumming, vocals and dance, April 22 & 23 at 8 PM at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue (between 9th & 10th Streets) . In addition to vocals and dances, the instruments played by Ms. Belloni include frame drums, ocean drum, Bodhran, shakers, berimbao, harmonium, and Southern Italian tambourines, designed by the artist for her REMO line of tambourines.

Theater for the New City will present 'TARANTELLA - SPIDER DANCE', tonight, January 18-20, 2013.