Bio | Other projects | My teachers
Chi sono
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.
My Teachers :: Thank you, grazie, شكراً
Note (in which I switch to first person):
Egyptian, Arab, North African & West Asian Dances
Egyptian, Arab, North African & West Asian Dances
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.
Egyptian, Arab, North African & West Asian Dances
Egyptian, Arab, North African & West Asian Dances
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)
- 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 Nightlcub/Cabaret)
- Leila Haddad (Tunisian)
- Lorna Zilba (pan-Arabic)
- Leea Aziz (pan-Arabic, Turkish, American Nightclub/Cabaret)
- 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!) 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!
Italian Dances
Egyptian, Arab, North African & West Asian Dances
Italian Dances
- Andrea De Siena (Regional Pizzicas, Tammurriata, Saltarello )
- Francesca Corsetti (Pizzica, Taranta)
- Francesco Faustino (Pizzica)
- Kate Causbie (Pizzica)
- Laura Boccadamo (Pizzica)
- Romolo Crudo (Pizzica)
- Silvia Perrone (Pizzica)
+ lots of southern Italian and Italian-American social dances at weddings!
Percussion
Other Dance & Movement Styles
Italian Dances
- Alessandra Belloni (tamburello, tammorra)
- Andrea Piccioni (tabmurello)
- Barbara Crescimanno (tamburello, tammorra)
- 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
Other Dance & Movement Styles
Other Dance & Movement Styles
- Alessandra Belloni (Southern Italian singing)
- Basma Edrees (maqamat theory, Egyptian and Arabic music)
- 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
Other Dance & Movement Styles
Other Dance & Movement Styles
- Beth Abrams (Floor barre)
- Carla Escoda (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
And and and...
And and and...
- Nabil Abdelfattah, UC Berkeley (Arabic - Fus'ha)
- Faculty at International House, Cairo (Arabic - Fus'ha and Aameya)
- Department of Italian Studies, UC Berkeley (Italian)
- Italian Language Studies, City College of San Francisco (Italian)
+ I also grew up with regional Italian languages, not to mention hearing Polish and Ukrainian regularly
And and and...
And and and...
And and and...
- Anka Lavriv (Ukrainian folk magic and traditions)
- Bonnie Rose Weaver (Western herbalism, hands on large scale herbal gardening and tending)
- David Dean (White Awake — Radical Genealogy)
- Jessica Della Janare (Italian-American ancestral magic, witchcraft)
- Laura Tempest Zakroff (Sigil magic)
- Lisa Fazio (Western herbalism, Italian-American folk magic)
- Marika Heinrichs (Reverence and Repair - Ancestral Somatics)
+
- 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
Co-owner and comms
Alemany Farm
Former medicine and herb garden intern, current fan and visitor to this special spot
The Things We Do
Ongoing multigenerational doings and card slinging for and with family and family-like friends.
IYKYK.
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