Alessandra Belloni (born July 24, 1954 in Rome) is an Italian musician, singer, dancer, actress, choreographer, teacher, and ethnomusicologist.

She studied traditional tambourine technique with the Sicilian percussionist Alfio Antico, renowned for his ability to create "magical and primordial" atmospheres.

Velez gave her a book, La Terra del Rimorso (The Land of Remorse) by Ernesto De Martino, which inspired her to study Apulian tarantism.

Beginning in 1984, Belloni has taken part in the feast of San Rocco of Torrepaduli in Salento, Apulia, a traditional summer event for tambourines and pizziche.

[4] The traditional dance she teaches is presented 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.

Belloni emphasizes that tarantella music and dance, as popularly known today around the world, is different from its origins in Apulian folk culture, going back to the ancient Greeks.

The "spider bite" or tarantismo, being psychosexual injury, formerly called hysteria, affects women with depression and loneliness, and can be healed by drumming and dancing the ancient pizzica tarantata.

Like many before her, she connects devotion to the Black Madonna with pre-Christian[7] Goddess worship dating back to the ancient Greeks, who colonized Apulia as part of Magna Graecia long before the rise of Rome.

"[9] Belloni conducts dance therapy workshops, titled "Rhythm is the Cure," in New York, Italy, and other places in the United States and Europe.