Ep 356. Martina Tellini: When Competition Helps a Dancer and When It Doesn’t
Martina Tellini is an Italian professional belly dancer, teacher, and choreographer known for her dynamic, powerful, and natural style. Born in Florence, she began her artistic path with music, singing, and acting before dedicating herself to dance. Martina trained extensively with leading figures of Oriental Dance, including Randa Kamel, Tito Seif, Yousry Sharif, and Wael Mansour, and went on to win numerous international competitions across Europe and Asia, as well as becoming a finalist at the prestigious Raqs of Course Festival in Cairo. She has performed, taught, and judged worldwide. Deeply committed to artistic individuality, Martina’s teaching focuses on strong technique, unconventional choreography, and helping dancers discover their own unique voice. Alongside her belly dance career, she is also the president of the Renaissance dance association Il Lauro, performing historical dance across Italy and Europe.
In this episode you will learn about:
Starting belly dance directly in festivals and masterclasses, not beginner classes
How progressing too fast can cost you foundational technique
When audience love can mask what you need to work on — but competition feedback exposes it
The role of choreography vs. improvisation at different career stages
How pregnancy reshaped priorities, body awareness, and pace
Show Notes to this episode:
Find Martina Tellini on Instagram, Youtube and Facebook.
Details and training materials for the BDE castings are available at www.JoinBDE.com
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Find information on how you can support Ukraine and Ukrainian belly dancers HERE.
Podcast: www.ianadance.com/podcast
