Event Details

Date/Time: 

Sep 26 2010 1:00pm - 5:00pm

Price: 

$40, $45 at the door
($36 LCC members and students with I.D. in advance, $40 at the door)
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Where: 

Levantine Cultural Center
5998 W Pico Blvd

Los Angeles CA 90035
street parking
located one block east of Crescent Heights

"Cultural Memory" by Neda Dana HaeriWhether you and/or your family immigrated by choice, were exiled or displaced as a result of war, revolution, occupation or political suppression, you left one world behind and crossed a threshold into a new one. You may be living a life with the body in one place and the heart in another. The experience of being between worlds is increasingly common and is the basis for an entire body of literature, representing many world cultures that are adapting, for instance, to life in the U.S., and in other countries (recent examples include Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and Firoozeh Dumas' Funny in Farsi which has been adapted into a TV series).

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Jun 20 2010 1:00pm - 5:00pm

Price: 

$40 in advance, $45 at the door ($36 members with advance RSVP)
Click here to buy tickets

Where: 

Levantine Cultural Center
5998 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90035
Street parking
Located equidistant between Fairfax and La Cienega

a creative writing workshop

Levantine Cultural Center & The Writing Studio present Writing for Peace: War, Peace & the Path to Freedom. This workshop in creative writing with Elana Golden is for new and experienced writers—limited to 10 participants.

Turning wounds into literature is an act of self-preservation, self-discovery—a journey toward personal and global healing and peace. Elana Golden is a Los Angeles writer and teacher who works and corresponds with Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel. She has taught creative writing at Levantine Cultural Center for  the past two years. She has worked with new and established writers from many countries, including Iran, Iraq, Israel, Pakistan, Egypt and the United States.

Whether among nations, classes or families, the workshop provides a peaceful, respectful and inspiring space in which to write stories born of war, conflict or occupation. The skills of creative writing will be taught and explored, as well as effective methods to put aside the critical mind.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

May 22 2010 1:00pm - 4:00pm

Price: 

$40 in advance, $45 at the door; Levantine members receive 10% discount
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Where: 

Levantine Cultural Center
5998 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90035
one block east of Crescent Heights, between La Cienega & Fairfax
ample street parking or across the street in the CVS underground lot

Art of Taqaseem workshopTaqaseem Workshop: The Art of Improvisation in Arabic Music

Special Guest Instructor Riad Abdel-Gawad

Taqaseem is the celebrated and cherished musical form of improvisation of Arabic speaking peoples in the Middle East and North Africa. How did Arab musical tradition maintain its staying power for almost one-and-a-half millennia? This workshop will divulge the secret ingredients of improvisation which is the driving force behind this continually scintillating and surprising music that is called Arabic music.

It is open to intermediate and advanced musicians (any instrument) and vocalists. Pre-registrants, $40, $45 at the door. The workshop takes place at Levantine Cultural Center on May 22, from 1-4 pm. To register, call 310.657.5511.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Mar 14 2010 1:30pm - 3:30pm

Price: 

$30 pre-register, $35 at the door

Where: 

Dance Garden L.A.
3401 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90039
near Atwater Village, Los Feliz, Silver Lake
street and metered parking

Rosa Rojas: guedra dancer and teacherGuedra is a ritual blessing dance from the Tuareg Berbers, or "Blue People". Guedra is performed to envelop all present with positive energy, peace and spiritual love.The rhythmical clapping, and chanting, and dancers finger's and hand movements all have their origin in ancient symbolism. The Blue People consider Guedra to be their direct contact the elements, spirit, and universe. It is their deepest expression of their souls and provides protection against a hostile environment and evil spirits. The Guedra is an Arabic word for cooking pot. The cooking pot was covered in animal skin to make a drum to be played in the heartbeat rhythm. Workshop is open to all!

The Guedra workshop will begin with counter clapping and chanting warm up. Students will learn two blessing and counter clapping rhythms. There will also be a T'bal (standing dance) warm up. we will than proceed with Guedra on the knees and sitting position, and explore the intricacies of the hand, and arm movements. The Symbolic gestures are designed to send out blessings to the future, past, and present; to the Sun, Earth, Water and Wind. Towards the end of the workshop we will combine all elements of the Guedra.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Jan 31 2010 11:30am - 2:30pm

Price: 

$40, $45 at the door
Click here to buy tickets

Where: 

Levantine Cultural Center @
Pacific Dance Studios
10469 Santa Monica Blvd. (between Beverly Glen and Overland)
Los Angeles CA 90025
Reservations/information, 310.657.5511
Phone day of workshop, 310.481.9966
street parking

Miriam Peretz Silk Road-Afghan Dance WorkshopDon't miss this exclusive dance workshop taught by the much-lauded San Francisco-based dancer and choreographer, Miriam Peretz.

The Silk Road was a historic trading route stretching 7,000 miles across Central Asia from the China Sea in the east to the Mediterranean in the west. Some of the countries include- Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, and Turkey.

This workshop will give small samples of various Central Asian dance styles, with a main focus on Afghan dance. The workshop will give special attention to the art of spinning (central to all Central Asian dance forms,) and teach Afghan dance vocabulary culminating in a short dance. We will also learn the attan—the national folk dance of Afghanistan, danced at almost all celebrations and rites of passage.

Miriam Peretz is an internationally acclaimed performing artist and instructor specializing in dances from the Silk Road and the Middle East.

Event Details

Date/Time: 

Oct 23 2009 7:00pm - Oct 25 2009 9:00pm

Price: 

$40 in advance, 45 at the door ($38 members in advance); Oct. 23 conference tix $30
Click here to buy tickets

Where: 

Levantine Center at Mimoda Studio
5774 W. Pico Blvd. corner of Ogden
entrance in rear, street parking

Kiyana dance, mystical whirling weekendOctober 23, Friday, 7-9 pm, Conference and Demonstration

October 24, Saturday, 6-9 pm, Training, Movements & Dancing

October 25, Sunday, 4:30-7:30 pm, Training, Movements & Dancing

Sama'a master Javad Tehranian returns for a national tour with Kiyana presentations in Los Angeles in October, teaching the Persian form of whirling or Sufi dance known as Kiyana.

Wear comfortable clothes and prepare for a three-hour intense dance and exercise workshop (Oct. 23 is a conference and presentation only).

Javad Tehranian teaches vital exercises, infinity respiration, eye exercises, and body discipline, as well as symmetric and asymmetric movements by the method of divided attention, inner development, rhythmical contemplative movements, and the  enchanting, euphoric Sama'a dance.

Kiyana, meaning “the origin”, is a system of movements and internal work coming from ancient Persia; it relates to the education and the complete development, the unity and oneness of the body, mind and spirit, cleanliness, purity, equilibrium, power, health of body, tranquility in the mind and subtility of the soul of human beings.