October 12, 2007

Interview with Dalia Carella

Dalia Carella is one of those bold, glamorous, old-school entertainers clearly born to rule the stage. And she's a serious creative artist whose painstaking approach to the dances of diverse cultures has been shaped by mentors of notable integrity. Now she has joined the faculty of Dance New Amsterdam, where I spoke with her about her career and her pioneering involvement in DNA's Performance Project. She's introducing students to the rich music and dance traditions of the Near and Middle East and the Maghreb. Her four-week workshop will culminate in a new piece to be performed by her students along with works by other DNA faculty members, October 26-28. Get the details at DNA.

(The following audio interview was recorded live and on location at Dance New Amsterdam. In the process, we picked-up some of the sounds of the city including the sirens in the opening seconds.)

Listen to interview with Dalia Carella (MP3 - 38 minutes)

Video Clip (Microsoft Windows Media Player format) Watch performance video
Click for larger images of Dalia Carella

Dalia Carella Bio

Dalia Carella is a world-renowned Near/Middle Eastern Contemporary Dancer, Choreographer, Instructress and Global Fusion Artist. Audiences from around the world have applauded her mystical and innovative dances and choreographies that are taken from the tradition of the countries she is representing. Ms. Carella has delved deeply in the studies of dances from the Near and Middle East including Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, as well as North Africa including Morocco and Algeria. Her dances are both traditional and contemporary with a spiritual essence behind each and every movement that she creates. Some of Ms. Carella's new works represent both traditional and contemporary movement and range from sacred rituals to ethnic contemporary theater pieces and cabaret macabre inspired by the 1920s and '30s.

Her dance background also includes studies in Flamenco, Indian/Bollywood/Bhangra, African, Samba, Salsa, Bomba and Plena from Puerto Rico as well as jazz and ballet. Ms. Carella also created her signature dance form in 1985, "Dunyavi Gypsy (Roma) Dance," for which she is known throughout the world. The core of Dalia's Dunyavi work is extensive research of the Romany trail, focusing primarily on the Roma dances of Spain, India, Turkey and most recently, movements from North Africa. Dalia has also been performing and teaching a second style of Gypsy Rom dance, "El Mundo," that is evolving from her continuing studies of Middle Eastern, Andalusia and Latin dance influences. Continue reading...

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July 31, 2007

Interview with Alessandra Belloni

Here's an audio interview I recorded recently with the multi-talented Alessandra Belloni. I met with her shortly before she left for the Goddess Conference in Glastonbury, England where she would present some of her fascinating work around the music and ritual dance traditions of Southern Italy. We hit it off right away because for her (a native of Italy) as well as for me (an Afro-Caribbean native New Yorker) rhythm and dance have profound healing and transformative powers. We found we had much in common!

I hope you'll enjoy the audio interview as much as I did.

Listen to audio interview (MP3 - 36 minutes)

Alessandra Belloni Links

- Her short bio is at the bottom of this post. Or you can read her extended bio.

- Goddess Conference 2007

- Alessandra's annual healing dance percussion workshop at La Chiara di Prumiano in Tuscany

Performance Pictures
Click pictures for larger images

Upcoming New York City Performance

Coming to New York: Alessandra Belloni's Giullari di Piazza in Tarantella! Spider Dance: A Winter Solstice Celebration presented by Theatre for the New City, December 21-22. Tickets: 212-254-1109.

Alessandra Belloni Bio

Alessandra Belloni is a singer, percussionist, dancer and actress who stands as one of the most important voices of traditional southern Italian music and dance today. She is artist-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Alessandra is Artistic Director and Founder of I Giullari di Piazza (the Players of the Square). For her mastery of musical styles--both at home and abroad--she has been acclaimed as one of the greatest living percussionists in the world, and has her own signature series of Italian tambourines designed with the largest percussion company in the world, Remo Inc. Read her complete bio...

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