Alessandra Belloni

Alessandra Belloni is an Italian musician, singer, dancer, actress, choreographer, teacher, and ethnomusicologist. Her instrument is the Southern Italian tambourine and her work is focused on music and dance which are the traditional roots of tarantella. Belloni conducts workshops, titled "Rhythm is the Cure," in New York, Italy, and other places in the United States and Europe. She is artist in residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

The traditional dance she teaches is considered an ancient form of music and dance therapy. She presents it as an ancient healing ritual for women suffering from repressed sexuality, abuse, powerlessness, and the feeling of being caught in a web that binds them. The "spider bite" or tarantismo, being psychosexual injury, formerly called hysteria, affects women with depression and loneliness, which is believed to be healed by drumming and dancing the ancient pizzica tarantata. Dancing into an ecstatic trance with the support of the community, the dancer seeks to expel the "venom" and be returned to health.