Carlotta Menna was born in Rome. As a child she studied music and piano, she has been in contact with arabic culture since she was a child travelling Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Turkey. At the age of 12 she started studying ballet and modern jazz.
She started studying classical Egyptian belly dance with Valentina Mahira and Saad Ismail, getting soon to an advance level. Very important the study with Marialuisa Sales, with whom Carlotta studied arabic and turkish rhythms according to Mohammad Reda codification, and, also with Marialuisa Sales, Carlotta got a four years qualification in knowledge of Turkish Oriental Style, Turco-Roman (havasi) style and Ottoman Court Dance recognised by UNESCO.
In the year 2007/2008 Carlotta lived in Madrid, where she studied flamenco in the famous school “Amor de Dios”.
In 2009 Carlotta started the three years formation in Florence as a professional teacher with Gaia Scuderi and Roberta Bongini, which included anatomy, arabic and contemporary dance, props, didactic, teacher training, choreography and sufi dance among other subjects. In 2012 she obtained the qualification as a teacher in arab expressive dance.
She keeps studying classical, folkloric and cabaret style following workshops with international teachers such as Mahmoud Reda (Egitto), Amar Gamal (USA), Wael Mansour (Italia/Egitto) Jillina (USA), Raquia Hassan (Egitto) Randa Kamel (Egitto).
In 2010 she also started studying tribal fusion and ATS, following classes and workshops with international teachers such as Rachel Brice, Sharon Kihara, Manca Pavli, Geneva Bybee, Tjarda Van Straten, Elisheva, Sashi, Kymberly Mckoy, Elizabeth Strong, Anasma Vuong, April Rose, Morgana and in 2011 she obtained the first level certification in ATS FatChance Bellydance, released by Isabel de Lorenzo and Silvia Grassi of Carovana Tribale.
In 2011, with her dance company Shadi’, she started a collaboration with the italian folkloric dancer and choreographer Roberta Parravano in theatrical project that mixed contemporary and theatrical dance with oriental and italian dances, brought on various stages around Italy.
Carlotta is part of Shadì dance company, a contemporary and tribal bellydance company based in Rome. They organised theatrical shows, workshops and performances in Rome and in numerous festivals around Italy.
Since 2009 Carlotta has been regularly performing as a solo and as a company member in Italy and around the world (Spain, Croatia, England, USA, Australia, New Zealand) in festivals, events, restaurants and private functions. Since 2010 she has been teaching regular classes and thematic workshops of different styles.
In 2014 she went travelling Australia and New Zealand, where she created collaborations with musicians and performed and held workshops at different events and festivals, and she is currently based in Sydney, Australia, where she regularly performs.
In Australia she started approaching yoga and she is a qualified teacher,
her speciality being SUP and aerial yoga. She is also dedicated to circus arts, such as aerial acrobatic (aerial silk, aerial lyra), fire spinning techniques and pole dancing, which she fusion with belly dance. With a very wide background, Carlotta’s performances and classes are very different and eclectic but also paying attention to the tradition and the history of our dance styles.
