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What's New This Week With Viver Brasil?
- TODAY LA Common's 10th Annual Day of the Ancestors: Festival of Masks
- Community Class on Monday with Vera Passos!
- Performance Spotlight on Ajah Muhammad in Ajê at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center
- Article on VB's Dancing the Majestic Kings
- #VoiceMoneyTimeOrTalent!: The Center for Cultural Power
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LA Common's A Virtual Celebration of Black Joy
10th Annual Day of the Ancestors: Festival of Masks
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LA Commons is hosting A Virtual Celebration of Black Joy, 10th Annual Day of the Ancestors: Festival of Masks TODAY August 30th at 2pm PST! Don't miss out on the amazing performances that celebrate 10 years honoring ancestors and uplifting the amazing artists that define our neighborhood and an international contingent of creators from across the African diaspora.
A once in a lifetime experience, come learn about and witness people of African descent coming together to connect with ancient wisdom and to showcase the power of black joy. The program has never been more important as an unapologetic display of Blackness that spotlights the creativity of artists from Leimert Park and around the world in a virtual expression of hope, solidarity and insight.
Highlights:
WORLD PREMIERE - 8:46, Dance of the Queen Mothers by local elder and internationally renowned choreographer Nzingha Camara
Ritual for Healing performed by SHINE MUWASI
A Virtual Tour of Leimert Park with We Love Leimert
Celebratory Performances from across the Africa diaspora - Wezi (Zambia), Kuenta (Aruba/Curacao), Adunni (Nigeria), Viviam Caroline (Brazil), Voices of Creation (Leimert Park)
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Symbols, Sambas, Movements of Joy and Resistance
This week we have our Maestra and Associate Artistic Director, Vera Passos, continuing with Dances of the Orixas: Symbols and Movements.
8/24: Vera Passos: Dances of the Orixas: Symbols and Movements
8/31: Vera Passos: Samba de Roda
Since VB transitioned to online classes we have reached dancers all over the US and communities in 22 countries, 34 states, and 219 zip codes in California!
Join our global community every Monday night at 6:30pm!
From wherever you are in the world, you are invited to join us for another Virtual Dance Class.
Every Monday in 2020
6:30 to 8 pm PST
Suggested donation of $5
No one will be turned away due to lack of funds
Click here to register and receive a confirmation email with the link to our virtual Community dance class!
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Performance Spotlight:
Ajah Muhammad in Ajê at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center
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This week's #PerformanceSpotlight is our performance of Ajê at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center in 2014
Featured in both these pictures is our incredible dancer Ajah Muhammad who has been a dancer with us for 7 years. Her fun fact is that she LOVES astronomy!
Ajah Muhammad hails from Sacramento, CA, and was raised in Los Angeles. Her diverse dance background in West African, ballet, modern/contemporary, hip hop, and Afro-Brazilian movement forms inform her profound love for the stage. She graduated from Arizona State University with a BFA in Dance, emphasizing Performance and Choreography. While at ASU, she performed with Lisa Chow's Desert Dance Theatre. Ajah attended L'ecole Des Sables in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal to train in various West African dance forms under Artistic Director Germaine Acogny in the summer of 2011. Upon her return to LA in 2012, she participated in Lula Washington Dance Theatre’s summer dance intensive. Ajah joined Viver Brasil in 2013. She has trained in Bahian samba, orixa dances and songs of Candomblé, Bloco Afro dances, and Silvestre Technique continually deepening her understanding of Afro-Brazilian culture’s revolutionary history. She serves as a dance captain for Viver Brasil’s Viva Navidad Disney Resort project. Additionally, she dances with James Mahkween’s Eternity Dance, Stacey Strickland’s Striktly Addikted and Holly Seely.
Pictured:
Ajah Muhammad in Mothers and Sons by Rosangela Silvestre
Ajah Muhammad, Jahanna Blunt and Shelby Williams-Gonzalez in Para Xaxa by Shelby Williams-Gonzalez
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Article on VB's Dancing the Majestic Kings
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Check out this amazing article community member, Gabriella Witencamps, wrote about our Dancing the Majestic Kings workshop. Her beautiful words capture the true meaning of the workshop and enjoyment participants felt.
If you missed last weekend's workshop and want a video recording, visit bit.ly/vbkings or email info@viverbrasil.com
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#VoiceMoneyTimeOrTalent -
The Center for Cultural Power
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This week's #VoiceMoneyTimeOrTalent entry is the Center for Cultural Power. The Center for Cultural Power is a women of color, artist-led organization that works to use the power of art to create a more equitable country. They recently created "No Going back: A COVID-19 Cultural Strategy Activation Guide" that speaks to Artists and Activists to use this current moment in history to uplift and build our communities. If you are an artist, look into their fellowships, collaborations, and trainings in order to use your #talent for good. For others, please consider using your #time to read over this guide, your #voice to spread love for this organization to those who may benefit, and your #money to donate. More about the organization:
The Center for Cultural Power is a women of color, artist-led organization, inspiring artists and culture makers to imagine a world where power is distributed equitably and where we live in harmony with nature. We support artists through fellowships, training and opportunities for activation. We create intersectional stories and content addressing issues of migration, climate, gender and racial justice. We engage groups in cultural strategy and organize artists in issues that inspire them. Together with allies, we are co-creating a field of cultural strategy with organizations and practitioners through convenings, design teams and strategy tables.
Read the Culture Strategy Activation Guide Here
To learn more about the organization, click here
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DO YOU LOVE WHAT WE'RE DOING?
Your generosity support our artists, our dance and music making, and our community programming.
We welcome your donation to Viver Brasil, a 501(c)3 organization to which tax-deductible contributions can be made at any time. Please visit viverbrasil.com/support or click the button below to donate.
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