Artist Statement - Monica Berini
I am a dancer, percussionist, performing artist, choreographer, educator, writer, and independent researcher.
I immerse myself in movement forms that are highly vernacular, hyper-localized, shifting, alive, and of the people. I explore how folk styles can retain integrity when pulled out of context. I struggle with being a cultural artist in multiple regional and diasporic dance styles and grapple with insider and outsider identities. I'm curious and comfortable in not always knowing what is going on in each moment. I overshare my own learning process.
I play with dance as an intellectual pursuit, a ritualized experience, a personal expression, another language, an improvisation, a community connector, and as part of fully realized human expression.
All art has political, cultural, and historical context, and dance is no different. I decidedly contextualize my work even as I find that beat, move to that melody, express that emotion, and bring my audiences along on an ephemeral journey.
Dance is a collective experience
Dance is moving the body. Sometime the movement is purposeful, sometimes it's letting go, sometimes it to music, sometimes to the sounds that are around us.
Never is it a solo endeavor.
When I dance, I am never alone.
Behind me is my personal history — my teachers, mentors, supporters, haters, friends, loves, hopes, community.
Holding me up is collective history — the shifts and development of the disciplines I am working within and all those who have done it before me and do it alongside me.
Surrounding me is an environment — a physical space, music or sounds I am responding to or reflecting, and musicians that are there with me or who are heard via a recording.
In my body are the cultures and places I grew up in.
In my soul are my ancestors.
A dancer's work reflects their life
Authenticity to a dance form also means being honest with and authentic to yourself.
There is no denying who you are when you are moving your body. Like all dancers, I have learned to mimic movement, and then to recreate it, to pose, to shift, grow, and physically change. However, I also remind myself to come back to who I am and where I come from and how and who want to be in this world in order to keep myself honest through my movement and dance work.
Dance takes time
The process of making a dance or doing dances is, in fact, the actual dance. The most rehearsed pieces will never be done the same way twice, as that is an impossibility in dance. It is time and it is repetition that allows us to deepen into the work, the movement, our ever-changing bodies and our ever-shifting abilities, so that every time we move there is something being said.
Dance alone (though see above!), dance with others, dance when you are uncomfortable, dance when you feel amazing.
Let it all work itself through you.
Take your time.
My Teachers :: Thank you, grazie, شكراً
Note:
To separate these teachings and teachers and courses out from one another is a fools errand, but is how we do it today. These areas of study have all informed one another historically, culturally, politically, and for me, personally, as has my 'day job' and education work. Please see all of my studies, and any work that evolves out of them, as intertwined.
This list is meant to honor those listed for their work and respect that none of us do this alone. Thank you all.
Teachers I work with currently and on an ongoing basis are in bold.
Egyptian, Arab, North African & West Asian Dances
- Aida Nour (Sharqi, Baladi, Alexandrian)
- Amel Tafsout (Algerian, Tunisian, Moroccan, Mauritanian, Andalusian)
- Astryd Farah deMichelle (Cairo style Sharqi & Beledi)
- Atef Farag (Folklore, Sharqi, Firqa Reda)
- Bert Balladine (Sharqi, Theatrical)
- Carolina Varga Dinicu (Sharqi)
- Dalia Carella (Romani)
- Dandash (Sharqi, Baladi, Theatrical)
- Dina Talaat (Sharqi, Baladi)
- Elena Lentini (Sharqi, Theatrical)
- Farida Fahmy (Firqa Reda, Sharqi, Theatrical)
- Fifi Abdo (Sharqi, Beledi, Fifi)
- Helene Eriksen (Afghani, Armenian, Romani, Kurdish, Andalusian, Iranian)
- Jihad of Al Juthoor (Palestinian Dabke)
- John Compton (Theatrical)
- Judeen Esau (Sharqi, Turkish)
- Karim Nagi (Saiidi, Dabke)
- Kay Hardy Campbell (Khaleeji)
- Khadijah Smith (Khaleeji)
- Khayriya Mazen (Ghawazee)
- Laila Farid (Sharqi)
- Leea Aziz (pan-Arabic, Turkish, American Nightclub/Cabaret)
- Leila Haddad (Tunisian)
- Lorna Zilba (pan-Arabic)
- Magda Ibrahim (Folklore, Sharqi, Firqa Reda)
- Mahmoud Reda (Firqa Reda, Theatrical)
- Mohammed El Hosseny (Simsimiyya - Suez dances, Sharqi, Awalem)
- Nashwa Cahill (Sharqi)
- Oreet Jehassi Schwartz (Sharqi)
- Outi (Sharqi)
- Raqia Hassan (Sharqi)
- Ranya Renee (Sharqi, Baladi, Breathwork, Firqa Reda)
- Rita Alderucci (Sharqi, Theatrical)
- Sahra 'Saeeda' Kent (Sharqi, Baladi, Firqa Reda)
- Shareen El Safy (Sharqi, Baladi)
- Soheir Zaki (Sharqi)
- Tarik Sultan (Sharqi)
I have taken many, many (many!) Arab+ style dance workshops and classes regularly since I was 17. This is not a complete list of my instructors. I'm sad to say there are many I may have even forgotten, but that does not negate their importance on my development as a mover. I've also been a performer since my teens and worked with many bands and fellow artists in the days when we learned 'on the job', as well as hearing the stories of my grandfather about dancers he loved, and last but certainly not least, doing a lot of social dancing in Cairo kitchens and at Arab and Arab-American weddings!
Italian Dances
- Andrea Caracuta (Pizzica)
- Andrea De Siena (Regional Pizzicas, Tammurriata, Saltarello )
- Francesca Corsetti (Pizzica, Theatrical taranta)
- Francesco Faustino (Pizzica)
- Kate Causbie (Pizzica)
- Laura Boccadamo (Pizzica)
- Rosa Voto (Pizzica Pizzica, regional pizzicas, and the all around awesomeness of being a rooted dancer in this world)
- Romolo Crudo (Pizzica)
- Serena D'Amato (Pizzica)
- Silvia Perrone (Pizzica)
- Veronica Calati (Pizzica Salentina)
+ lots of southern Italian and Italian-American social dances at weddings my whole life!
Percussion
- Alessandra Belloni (tamburello, tammorra)
- Andrea Piccioni (tabmurello)
- Barbara Crescimanno (tamburello, tammorra, and the all around awesomeness of our drums)
- Emanuele Liquori (tamburello)
- Faisal Zedan (riq)
- Leea Aziz (sagat/zills)
- Loay Dahbour (tabla, riq, duff)
- Mary Ellen Donald (tabla)
- Nando Citarella (tammorrra)
- Susu Pampanin (riq, tabla, tabla beledi)
Music & Singing
- Alessandra Belloni (Southern Italian singing)
- Basma Edrees (maqamat theory, Egyptian and Arabic music)
- Federica Colademenico (Salentino singing and music styles, storytelling, pizzica and tarantismo history, roots)
- Flavia Sabato (Salentino songs, pizzica as healing, restorative ronde)
- John LaBarbera (Southern Italian singing and music)
- Omar Abbad (oud)
- Salaheddine Bedoui (Arabic music)
- Sami Abu Shumays (maqamat theory)
- Tim Abdullah Fuson (Gnawa songs)
- Yassir Chadly (Gnawa songs)
Other Dance & Movement Styles
- Beth Abrams (Floor barre)
- Carla Escoda (Adult ballet)
- Dia Dear (Sick Dance)
- Ito Yosakoi (Yosakoi)
- Tatiana Burdiak (Ukrainian folk dance)
- Virgina Iglesias (Flamenco)
- Yaelisa (Flamenco)
+ lots of Polish social dances at weddings!
Language
- Nabil Abdelfattah, UC Berkeley (Arabic - Fus'ha)
- Department of Italian Studies, UC Berkeley (Italian)
- International House, Cairo (Arabic - Fus'ha and Aameya)
- Italian Language Studies, City College of San Francisco (Italian 1 - 3)
- Joy of Languages (Italian language coursework)
- Paolo Miceli (Griko languages)
+ I also grew up with regional Italian languages, not to mention hearing Polish and Ukrainian regularly
And and and...
- Anka Lavriv (Ukrainian folk magic and traditions)
- Bonnie Rose Weaver (Western herbalism, hands on large scale herbal gardening and tending)
- Christena Cleveland (Black Madonna Community Circles)
- David Dean (Radical Genealogy)
- Jessica Della Janara (Italian-American ancestral magic, witchcraft)
- Laura Tempest Zakroff (Sigil magic)
- Lisa Fazio (Italian-American folk magic)
- Marika Heinrichs (Ancestral somatics)
- Massimiliano Morabito (Tarantismo)
+
- My inspiring dance and musician friends and colleagues
- My family and my ancestors
- All my cummari...past, present, and future
Additional Projects
Howard Zinn Book Fair
Coordinating crew
Little Black Egg Screen Printing
Comms for the family biz
Alemany Farm
Former medicine and herb garden intern, current fan and regular visitor to this special spot
The Things We Do
Ongoing multigenerational doings and card slinging for and with family and friends. IYKYK.
The Hala Collective
Heritage Activists, Liberation Artists