Music | Movement | Culture | Joy
Monica is an educator, folk dancer, percussionist, independent researcher, and writer focused on movement arts that are of, by, and for the people.
Her main background is in greater Mediterranean dances, drums, and musical arts, with a primary focus on Egyptian raqs baladi (رقص بلدي) and Southern Italian tarantelle & other danze popolari, both of which developed via popular entertainment and personal expression while being rooted within an often marginalized cultural context.
Her own dance work is ancestral, community-minded, and joyfully liberatory. As a guest in both cultures she moves within (even as a diasporic member of each), she remains a lifelong learner, as well.
Born in New York, then raised bi-coastally between NY and LA, Monica has been living and working in Oakland and San Francisco (traditional lands of the Ohlone people) since her teens. She holds a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of California at Berkeley, and an MA in TESOL with a focus on Applied Linguistics and Adult Education Theory from San Francisco State University.
Abruzzese, Sicilian, Ticinese, Tunisian, Polish, & Ukrainian (Hutsul/Galician) spit out via 80s punk rock = io
Monica lives and works on unceded Ohlone Ramaytush land. Respect to elders, ancestors, and traditional caretakers of this place—past, present, emerging, and future.
Photo is from Monica's ongoing Accidental Altars series, taken in 2023.
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.
I have taken many, many (many!) 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 doing a lot of social dancing in Cairo kitchens and at Arab and Arab-American weddings!
+ lots of southern Italian and Italian-American social dances at weddings!
+ lots of Polish social dances at weddings!
+ I also grew up with regional Italian languages, not to mention hearing Polish and Ukrainian regularly
+
Coordinating crew
Co-owner and comms
Former medicine and herb garden intern, current fan and visitor to this special spot
Ongoing multigenerational doings and card slinging for and with family and family-like friends.
IYKYK.
Copyright © 2024 - All Rights Reserved
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.