Meet Annmaria Mazzini | Designer & Creator, Dancing Amulets Jewelry and Art

We had the good fortune of connecting with Annmaria Mazzini and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Annmaria, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
My name is Annmaria Mazzini and I am the designer and creator of Dancing Amulets Jewelry and Art, based in New York City. Dancing Amulets are handmade and intuitively spellcrafted with stones selected to energetically support your magical goals. Magic, to me, is a state of wonder: that mysterious, tingly assurance that I am not alone. Unseen energies guide me and support me. At any moment, I know that something unexpected can happen, something extraordinary.

I started making jewelry early in my career as a professional dancer, when I discovered my first bead store on a tour stop in Seattle. Over the next two decades, I performed all over the world, from New York to Paris, Venice, Mumbaii…collecting stones and pendants as I went, and assembling new and old into necklaces or bracelets that recalled the memories of each city.

I loved being a dancer. The music, the lights, the adrenaline! It was thrilling to feel so many different things all at once…but the most compelling was that elusive exchange of energy that happens in that magical space between the performers and the audience. When I was onstage, I couldn’t see the audience. I was brightly lit while they watched from the darkness of the house. But I could feel them very intensely throughout the whole show: breathing with us, believing with us, and holding the space for us to create magic.

The beautiful stones I love have a special affinity, a palpable sense of life within their lovely, timeworn layers. They link us to our angels and guides, to ancient realms of intuitive wisdom that we know is within us but can no longer see. Individual stones have specific attributes to direct towards your desired outcome. For example, rose quartz can open your heart to love and healing, black tourmaline can be called upon for psychic protection, and citrine offers hope for new beginnings. Colors also have vibrations that can influence our energy and outlook: we all have favorites we turn to if we want to be soothed or uplifted, and we know exactly which ones make us feel our most self-assured and confident.

Though I no longer perform, I still find magic everyday: the butterfly that crosses my path, the flowers growing in my garden, the change in the air when my son laughs, and in the blissful purrs of our kitties. That feeling of ecstatic joy and deep peace is the spirit I channel into my jewelry. Dancing Amulets align the compelling energies of stone and color with your personal desires for crafting a magical life. With their power, beauty, and innate sense of energy, they evoke a state of wonder: a blissful assurance that you are never alone, and magic can find you at any moment.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
From as early as I can remember, my answer to the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” was always “an artist”. It is and always has been my nature. Both my mom and dad encouraged me to be expressive. My mom was a fine artist who serenely channeled figures on large canvas, with wise faces that watched over me as I played. As she worked in a blissful state of flow, I observed the quiet ways to magic, and marveled at her magnificent creations. My dad was a nuclear engineer, but it was he who first instilled in me the love for music that lead to me becoming a dancer. When he came home at night, the records went on, and our living room was filled with singing and dancing. He had a particular appreciation for the greatest, most emotional performers, the uninhibited who let their genius flow with abandon – Judy Garland and Ray Charles come to mind. He also loved Taylor Swift. (Fun fact, we’re from Allentown too!)

For my part, I wanted to move to New York City and dance for my favorite choreographer, Paul Taylor. Not long after I graduated from Southern Methodist University, that dream came amazingly true. Mr. Taylor’s dances were athletic, virtuosic, and dramatic, and they filled me with so many beautiful, complicated feelings. Can you imagine my thrill, being given the chance to let loose in his magical worlds, expressing an astounding range of emotions? And for audiences all over the world!

There is just so much beauty in the world, I am overwhelmed. I have felt this way from the beginning; I can’t stop absorbing it. It consumes me and changes me before begging to be released back into the world. I have to let it out any way I can: through my hands, through my body, or through my words. So I move with it. I listen, and respond as it wills me: I dance, I draw, I paint, and I make amulets. And I try to do it all with generous abandon, to be an unfiltered channel of truth and abounding love! This is the cycle of creativity, the magic that connects us, the constant exchange of positive nourishing energy.

My dancing job was understandably demanding, both physically and mentally. It seemed I was always dealing with at least one nagging injury. Nothing to fully sideline me (at first), but enough that taking care of my body had to be my top priority. Lucky for me, I had the support of many gifted therapists and healers. In their care, I became acquainted with alternative methods for healing, many of which I could study and practice myself. I learned about aromatherapy and meditation and developed a solitary spiritual practice that affirmed my connection to the saints, angels, and nature spirits. But my real a-ha moment came when I discovered crystal healing. I’d always been drawn to rocks and stones, not realizing what marvelous sources of comfort and insight they could be. It wasn’t long before I started incorporating all this information into the jewelry I was already making. Now with the energetic support of gemstones, I could create jewelry with magical purpose, offerings of healing and empowerment for whoever resonated with the message. Dancing Amulets were born.

Towards the end of my sixteen-year tenure with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, it became clear to me that I could not continue. While I still loved it, I could no longer endure the physical demands. In fact, I needed a hip replacement. The nagging tendonitis that plagued me throughout much of my career was attributed to degenerative joint disease. In short, I had worn down all the cartilage in my hip. I was dancing bone on bone, and in constant pain.

I was heartbroken. It was my childhood dream to dance for Mr. Taylor, my favorite choreographer, the one who gave me a creative outlet for all the magical feelings inside me. I wasn’t ready to stop. And I was scared. Who would I be without my dream? What would I do with all the feelings inside me?

I pushed through tears for my bittersweet final New York performance in 2011. A full house of family, friends, and supporters cheered and tossed flowers at my feet. Mr. Taylor came onstage and presented me with a huge bouquet. My beautiful fellow dancers surrounded me in a group hug.

What happened after the curtain came down fills my heart to this day. The crowd of supporters had gathered. As I came closer, I began to distinguish the individual faces of the loved ones, colleagues, and acquaintances I’d connected with throughout the last two decades. All of them had come to see me off into the next stage of my life, sending their loving energy from the dark. But now they were here with me backstage, smiling and congratulating me, every last one of them adorned in a Dancing Amulet I had made for them.

I was so profoundly touched to see this parade of magical people, all looking radiant in the amulets I lovingly crafted for them. And how beautiful my amulets looked, coming back to see me and let me know that everything was going to be all right! I got the message: I would always have an outlet for my magic, and there would always be someone to welcome it.

I’m endlessly inspired by the strength and spirit of the enchanting people I create for, and all the incredible ways they put magic in the world. They are imaginative, soulful, deeply feeling, and deeply caring people who constantly encourage me to live my best, most authentic life. I couldn’t do any of this without them!



Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Riverdale, a South Bronx neighborhood located just north of Manhattan. Though we are only a couple of miles from the bright lights of the city, we have a lot of parks and nature trails here, some that run right along the Hudson River. The Bronx Zoo and the New York Botanical Gardens, not to be missed, are nearby, as is Wave Hill, another spectacular garden estate that was once the summer home of a young Teddy Roosevelt. When you’ve had enough of the Bronx we can hop on the Metro North train to Grand Central Station, the most beautiful building in the world! We can take the subway down to Soho for some shopping, but let’s stop along the way to admire my other favorite building, the Flatiron. Maybe we’ll have some breakfast at Balthazar or Ladurée, or we could just grab an egg and cheese on a roll at the deli. We will have to wander the crooked cobblestone streets of the West Village – you will feel as if you are stepping into a past life – and we must stop at Grandaisy Bakery for my favorite pizza, “cavolfiore”, cauliflower and gruyere cheese on flatbread, absolutely divine! On the West side we can visit the Whitney Museum and explore the galleries along the High Line. We can take a yoga class uptown, then go for a long walk in Riverside or Central Park. In the summertime there are free performances and concerts everywhere, but we’ll be sure to hit a jazz club, an opera, a modern dance performance, an immersive theater piece, the magic show at the McKittrick Hotel, and of course, a Broadway show. We’ll skip Times Square with all the costume characters, but always tip the subway performers. I suppose you’ll want to catch a game at Yankee Stadium? Have fun, I’m going home to Riverdale!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I turned 50 years old this year, and I would not be where I am today without all the people who believed in me and encouraged me to pursue my dreams, especially my mom and dad! I’m endlessly uplifted by the strength and spirit of the enchanting people in my life, all the incredible ways they put magic in the world, and how they inspire me to live my best, most authentic life.

Website: dancingamulets.com

Instagram: DancingAmulets

Linkedin: Annmaria Mazzini

Facebook: Dancing Amulets

Youtube: MazziniDance

Image Credits
Portrait image by Mark Cuddihee Dancing image by Francisco Graciano