Who we are…
Andrea Belser: owner, founder, and Executive Artistic Director of Amalgam Arts & Wellness LLC is a performing artist and instructor from Cleveland, Ohio who has received her Bachelor of Arts from Wright State University in Theatre Studies, with an emphasis on Applied Voice and (unofficially) Dance. Beginning with ballet at three years of age, she also continued her studies in various dance forms, including but not limited to tap, African folk dance, liturgical/spiritual, jazz, musical theatre dance, modern/contemporary, hip hop, and Latin ballroom.
Post college, Andrea has remained extremely active in the northeast Ohio theater community, receiving 2008 Best Actress in Cleveland for her role as Juliette in I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me by a Young Lady from Rwanda at Dobama Theatre, and nominations of 2012 Best Actress in Cleveland for her role as Pecola in The Bluest Eye at Karamu House Theatre, and 2023 and 2024 Best Choreographer in Cleveland for her work on Jesus Christ Superstar with Willow's Edge Creations and Seussical the Musical with Theatre Agape.
She presents herself on and off stage, doing anything from the obvious of acting, dancing, or singing, to stage manager, choreographer, or costume assistant. She has also worked with several theaters, including but not limited to Cleveland Public Theatre, Near West Theatre, The Fine Arts Association, The Lantern Theatre, Ensemble Theatre. Since 2009, Andrea has taught drama/theatre arts, musical theatre, and various dance forms in different theaters, outreach programs, and venues such as Cleveland Play House, Spark Theatre4Youth, Talespinner Children’s Theatre, Cleveland School of the Arts, Fairmount Center for the Arts, Ohio Contemporary Ballet, and Playhouse Square, both in groups and private lessons.
In addition to a Level III Reiki Master certificate from Touch Reiki (Reiki Master Rebecca Hann) and credentialed badges received from the Center for Arts-Inspired Learning in Program Development, Creative Chaos, and Creative Inclusion, she also holds a Level I Physically Integrated Dance Teaching Artist Certificate from Dancing Wheels, making her well-qualified to teach dance to those of all ages and abilities, providing alternative translations of movement for physically impaired dancers, as well as other methods of inclusion for dancers with special needs. Andrea is also listed on the Ohio Teaching Artist Roster and is a licensed substitute teacher.
What is Amalgam…?
Amalgam Arts & Wellness LLC started off in 2017 as an act of defiance and a means of control during a time where all seemed lost. I (Andrea) wanted to send out healing, but I also wanted to share my talents with people in the same way I had been years prior to its inception. Thus, Amalgam Arts & Wellness was born; starting with community-based classes called Rhythm Nation, where we held monthly dance style themes for dancers of all ages, abilities, and levels of experience, and occasional group treatments called Reiki and Relaxation.
Slowly, it evolved into a private session hub primarily for Reiki treatments and specialty dance lessons with a touch of Reiki added from time to time. And although arts and wellness were clearly being provided, it still didn't speak "amalgam" to me. By continuing to offer the solo Reiki treatments and the private lessons, I recently decided to be clearer and more deliberate on the blending of arts and wellness by calling it by name: Movement Stretch Reiki (dance related), Vocally Sound Reiki (singing related), and Emotional Release Reiki (acting related). These pieces provide a clear intent on the blending of the two disciplines while also giving clients the freedom to play with the spectrum of the two, working with me on how much or how little they want to include Reiki with the arts, and vice versa.
It is my hope for people to see the healing properties of both Reiki and the arts, as individual pieces as well as an amalgamation!