Peter de Guzman, has had extensive professional experience performing and teaching Filipino folkdances over the last twelve years. He earned his BA in World Arts and Cultures at UCLA. He performed summers with the Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group (Ballet Folklorico de Filipinas) in 1996, 2000, and 2001. He danced with the Resident Company of the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2002 and 2006. He participated in the Kultura Philippine Folks Arts in Pasadena from 1993-97, and in the summer of 2003 and 2006. He interned with the Center for Intercultural Performance at UCLA in 2004. He has been a member of the Alun-Alun Dance Circle in Marikina, Philippines and the Pakaraguian Kulintag Ensemble in Los Angeles. For four years he was a guest lecturer at the School of Enthnomusicology at UCLA. He was Director and Choreographer of Pamana Philippine Dance Community Group in Eagle Rock from fall 1999 to the summer of 2002. He was as member of the Touring Company of CUDAMANI Balinese Dance Group during their 2005 American tour under the auspices of the World Music Institute. He performed a solo dance theater piece entitled “Scarecrow” at the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures under the direction of Modern Dance Choreographer Victoria Marks. He self-funded three Cultural Immersion and Research trips to the Philippines with Ramon Obusan, noted choreographer, anthropologist and National Artist of the Philippines in Dance. He intensively studied Pangalay dance culture with Ms. Ligaya Amibangsa, choreographer of the acclaimed Alun-Alun Dance Circle.

Classes
Filipino Dance

Ka-Ron Brown Lehman has worked extensively as a dancer, teacher and choreographer, as well as on TV and the Concert stage. Carolyn Skyers and J. Erglis Smaltzoff trained her. James Truitt was very influential on her development in modern dance, and Doug Rivera provided much of her jazz training. Others who had a major impact on her style are Joseph Richard, Karol Shook and Thelma Hill. Maestro Smaltzoff used her extensively in his ballet and eastern European folkloric companies, and she performed with the Joseph Richard African-American Ballet Co., Jimmie Fields Afro-Cuban Ballet, Andre Tremaine's Pacific Ballet Theatre, and Tommy Johnson Afro-Cuban Dance Co. Her first professional theatre experience came in Don't Bother Me I Can't Cope at the Huntington Hartford, followed by Oscar Brown Jr.'s It's About Time and Jon Hendricks Evolution of The Blues, which won her the Drama Logue Critics Award. She appeared in Sancocho at the Public Theatre, and Rockín Roll-The First 5000 Years, at the St. James Theatre on Broadway. Some of her choreography credits include numerous shows at Inner City Cultural Center, e.g. Showgirls, Wings'n Things, Four Seasons, If They Come Back, Sang Sista Sang, Brilliant Colours and Othello with Ted Lange. She also choreographed NAACP Image Award Shows, and Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
         As a teacher Ka-Ron's special gifts are, spotting talent, motivating students to work and helping students to unlock their emotions through dance. She won A Distinguished Teacher Award by the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. Currently Ms. Lehman is the Artistic Director of the Dance Department at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA). In the last ten years, she has devoted much of her energy toward the development of two projects, the Lehman Dance Co. and the Annual Lehman Awards. The Lehman Awards were created in 1993, to honor members of the dance community, and to educate todayís young dance students about the pioneers of dance. The Lehman Dance Co. has been seen in Kaleidoscope and at various venues in the Los Angeles area, e.g. California State University at Northridge, AFI Awards and The Alex Theatre. In 1999, the company was invited to perform a series of concerts at the premiere gala opening of Latria, a new Performing Arts Center in Martinique. Recently, Ka-Ron paid tribute through dance to Beah Richards together with Mel Carter, Danced the Spirit of Billie Holiday in Stephen Semien's Elegy for a Lady, a birthday bash tribute for Ms. Holiday and choreographed a national commercial for Bayer Aspirin, starring Ben Vereen.
         The past three Spring Dance Concert Productions for LACHSA (2002-2004), Ka-Ron successfully re-staged, produced, directed as well as choreographed along with her talented faculty, three complete Ballets; Stravinsky's Firebird, at the Luckman, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Prokofiev's Cinderella, and Peter Pan, at the Alex Theatre in Glendale.

Classes
Choreography

The Nigerian Talking Drum Ensemble (Francis Awe, director and Omowale Orisayomi, assistant director and principal dancer) was founded in 1985 by Master Drummer Francis Awe, in response to the growing international interest in the Talking Drum. Since its inception, the Ensemble of drummers and dancers has educated and entertained audiences worldwide.
      The Yoruba name for the Talking Drum is Dundun, which means "sweet sound." It is called the Talking Drum because its sound emulates the tonal quality of the Yoruba language. Currently based in Los Angeles, The Ensemble has performed at such landmark venues as the J. Paul Getty Museum, Disneyland, the Los Angeles Theatre Center, and the Celebration for Nelson Mandela at the Los Angeles Coliseum, as well as at major cultural festivals such as the African Marketplace, the Los Angeles Festival and the World Festival of Sacred Music. Since 1995, the Ensemble has performed its annual "Day of Remembrance, Day of Healing," to celebrate and commemorate the survival of African and Yoruba culture and its unifying influence throughout the world. As Francis Awe notes on the African Heritage Network's 1997 broadcast of African Portraits, "You can still hear the root of African music in any music anywhere in the world today."
      It is the legacy of that music that inspires the Ensemble and destines it to reunify the human race regardless of color or language, through its music, song and dance. The Nigerian Talking Drum Ensemble is available for lecture demonstrations, workshops, touring and performances. The sound of the Talking Drum and Yoruba song can be heard on the CD, "Oro Ijinle" (Deep Words), Francis Awe's first recording on Bindu Records. Future goals include the establishment of a permanent Cultural Center where African music and dance can be presented and archived on a continuous basis.

Classes
African Dance
Percussion/Rhythm