2024 Details:

We are excited to announce Community Class will begin on March 4th!

7:30pm-9:00pm
Nate Holden Performing Arts Center
4718 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016

This year we will be asking for a $15-$20 dollar donation. 

We are grateful to the CA Arts Council Impact Grant program for their generosity and commitment to robust arts funding!

Why it’s free

Community class has changed so much since it began on Tuesdays in 1997. Its hours and its location have changed throughout the years, and in 2020 it had to go entirely virtual. Throughout all the time that Los Angeles County and surrounding areas have come together to learn something new or old or challenging or relaxing on Monday (Or Tuesday) nights, one thing has never changed, and that is that all are welcome. With the help of the California Arts Council, this welcoming spirit was able to grow even more, and as of September 12th, 2022, Community Class became free. We are so thankful to the CAC and to all of you who have attended our classes. What we do here at Viver Brasil means nothing without support from people like you.

Last year: 2023

In July of 2023, Viviam Caroline, master of Afro-Brazilian percussion and Samba Reggae, taught class alongside Vera Passos, the most sought after expert of Orixa dance in the world. In June, the two artists taught Community Class together, sharing techniques from their immense history of talent and skill.

But for the longtime Community Class members, it won’t come as a surprise to you that Viviam and Vera are not the first among a long line of passionate and creative thinkers and movers that have come to teach at Nate Holden.

In April, Linda Yudin, the Co-Founder of Viver Brasil led Community Class. She earned her MA in Dance (Ethnology) from UCLA in 1988, and has devoted more than 30 years to researching, performing and teaching Afro-Brazilian dance. Yudin has directed twelve premiere works, guided national and international tours with Viver Brasil, and has developed a living artistic bridge between LA and Salvador, Bahia.

Other independent thinking and uniquely minded teachers of the 2023 Community Class line-up have included:

Nagode Simpson

Marina Magalhães

Indira Leneman

and

Shelby Williams-Gonzalez

Starting September 11th, 2023

Samantha Blake Goodman aka DJ MUÑEKA will be teaching Orixa Dance Movement in Community Class.

Brief HISTORY OF COMMUNITY CLASSES

Community Class is one of the most diverse programs that Viver Brasil runs. Stick around for long enough, and you will have met teachers from all around the world, who have mastery in so many different styles of Afro Brazilian dance and musical styles. 
Community Class has met every week since 1997, beginning by teaching Afro-Brazilian technique dance classes at the Dance Arts Academy. Back in the day, The Viver Brasil Institute, led by founding artistic directors Linda Yudin and Luiz Badaró, with special guests from Bahia, Brasil, reached over 1,000 people each year, and now at Nate Holden, 26 years later, it still does.

Our response to covid

Here at Viver Brasil, we are pretty fast on our feet and are quick to the jump. See how we put our community classes online so that people could quarantine and not miss a thing.