ABOUT ISABELLA RUGGIERO

Isabella RuggieroIsabella Ruggiero was born and raised in Naples, Italy. She studied at the University of Federico II in Naples,  where she graduate in Political Sciences, and at the Istituto Universitario Orientale, where she studied Foreign languages and Literaures with cinematographic address. (Aesthetics of Cinema, History and Criticism of Cinema, Semiotics of Cinema).

In the 2000 she moved to Holland, where she fell in love with Oriental dance, thanks to the encounter with a Tunisian teacher, Kaouthar Darmoni, based in Amsterdam. After completing a course at Darmoni school, she travelled trough Europe and Middle East to study Oriental dance with great masters such as Sema Yldiz , Farida Famy, Mamhoud Reda, Mo Geddawi, Farouk Moustafa, Nevein Ramez, Raqia Hassan, Hassan Khalil, Suraya Hilal.

The most significant change in her career was the encounter with the Egyptian master percussionist Hossam Ramzy and his wife, the oustanding dancer Serena. In December 2010, she enroled their DRUMZY SCHOOL OF MUSIC & DANCE, in London and she graduate in November 2013, passing the ADVANCED DANCERS COURSE.

In the 2008, meanwhile, she started researching the traditional music and dance from her region, Campania, in Southern Italy. She became a connoisseur of “la Tammurriata”, a melodic rhythmic musical form made of sound, song and dance. She then started to develop her project as a traditional South of Italy dance teacher and performer in the Netherlands.

In the 2009 Isabella won the first prize of the cross-over dance competition “Shimmy Shake” in Amsterdam, performing a Tammurriata piece with “Duo Tarante Basse”.

At the moment Isabella holds weekly classes of Oriental dance.  She also gives monthly workshops of La Tammurriata. She is artistic director of “Folkendammer” –  a three-day festival of traditional Italian music and dance and of “Mediterranean Folk ensembles” night, an event of mediterranean folk music and dance. She performs dance pieces with Mediterranean music ensembles like Dar al Mouzika and Luciano Maio quartet. Using the title “Danzeasud”  she coordinates artistic residencies with the aim of create a bridge between Mediterranean culture and local culture and to spread Southern Italy traditions abroad.