Steve Smith, Clown College director, Hall-of-Famer, will teach at the Actors Gymnasium on Sunday, December 7. Starting at 2PM, Mr. Smith's Physical Comedy workshop will explore the ancient and honorable art of clowns like Chaplin, Keaton and circus great, Lou Jacob. His text will be a classic slapstick routine called "Dead & Alive," which participants will learn from beginning to end.

Participation is limited to 20 energetic adults with performance experience. Participants pay $50; a small number of observers will be admitted at $10 apiece. Participants and observers alike must reserve their spots in advance.

The Actors Gymnasium is located in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes Street in Evanston, just one-half block west of the Noyes Street stop on the Evanston (Purple) CTA line.

For more information, telephone 847-328-2795.

Sentience Dance Project (SDP) is a dynamic group of singers, dancers and musicians who present dance-drama as healing ritual for the Earth and all her inhabitants. Created through tapping into deep visionary consciousness, their performance and workshops help people connect psychically with Nature and with each other in powerful community.

Join them on Sunday, December 7 between 7-9PM at the Dance Connection, 3047 N. Lincoln, #210, Chicago, for a fun-filled dance party to benefit SDP's Community Outreach Program. You'll dance to the live World Music of SDP's singers and musicians. (Please wear loose, comfortable clothing with bare feet or socks.) Artistic Director Joan Majewska, "Eagle Heart", will be giving psychic readings through her dancing for those attending.

A delicious natural food buffet will be provided, so you'll need to pre-register. Make your check for $25 per person payable to Sentience Dance Project. For information, please call (312) 642-1811.

Two events to help you gain insights and inspiration from the experiences that Linda Anderson chronicled in her inspirational book, 35 Golden Keys to Who You Are and Why You're Here (see the review in the 9/97 issue of TMA) will be held in the Chicago area.

The first is a mini-workshop and book signing at Transitions Bookstore (1000 West North Avenue in Chicago) on Friday, January 2 between 7 and 8PM. As a bonus, those who have read Linda's book will be available to share their own stories of transformation.

Then on Saturday and Sunday (January 3 and 4), Linda will be the guest speaker at the 1998 Illinois Eckankar Regional Seminar to be held in Naperville. (See the next Local Light entry.)

On Saturday and Sunday, January 3rd and 4th, the theme of the1998 Illinois Eckankar Regional Seminar will be Discover the Mahanta, A Bridge to Divine Love. The weekend presentation, sponsored by Eckankar, Religion of the Light and Sound of God, will be held at the Holiday Inn Select, 1801 North Naper Blvd., Naperville (2 blocks south of I-88, Naperville Road exit).

Attendees will be able to explore Eckankar in more depth at talks, workshops and discussion groups, view spiritually inspired artwork, and browse among books, videos and cassette tapes in the bookstore.

For those who wish to learn more about Eckankar (an individual's path home to God with the gentle spiritual guidance of the Mahanta), the seminar features a free-of-charge program on Saturday morning from 10 till noon and in the afternoon from 1 until 4:30.

Linda Anderson, author of 35 Golden Keys to Who You Are and Why You're Here will be the guest speaker. Lorraine Buell (once a popular TMA columnist and formerly of Skokie) will convene a special workshop, Children and the Ultimate Mystery of God.

There will also be a full schedule of youth activities for youth ages five through 25, and parents of children under five will be able to watch the seminar on video in the Family Room.

For hotel reservations (not for seminar pre-registration), call (630) 505-4900. The special Eckankar hotel room rate is $62/night, to be reserved by December 22. For more information, please call (630) 369-8181.

Sant Rajinder Singh, renowned spiritual leader of Science of Spirituality, will be at the Radisson Hotel in Lisle (3000 Warrenville Road) on Friday, January 2 and Saturday, January 3 at 7:30PM to share the path of meditation on the inner Light and Sound.

He will explore a way in which individuals can achieve personal harmony and happiness through meditation, teaching a meditation practice from the Sant Mat tradition which dates back hundreds of years in India.

He presents meditation clearly and directly. Advocating a balance between inner and outer life, he encourages people to fulfill their responsibilities to family and society while pursuing a spiritual life of inner contemplation and personal development.

Actively committed to human unity and harmony, Sant Rajinder Singh has been honored by religious leaders and heads of state worldwide. He sponsors and participates in interfaith activities in America, Europe and India, where hundreds of thousands come together to focus on spirituality and religious fellowship.

For more information, call (630) 955-1200 or (800) 222-2207.

"Many of us believe we cannot heal ourself and our loved ones. I bet we can. It's easy," says Natasha Rumy, Director of The Gift Healing Arts School, and to further the point, she adds, "The gift of healing is not a magic wonder or a miracle. It is a series of techniques that anyone can learn, small miracles you can create every day. It's as easy as turning on a TV set -- which we don't consider a miracle because we've grown accustomed to it."

Natasha Rumy is a certified native Russian healer who was licensed to practice non-allopathic healing methods in Russia. A graduate of the Holistic Medicine Fund Institute in Moscow, she also has diplomas from several schools qualifying her as a bio-energy practitioner, spiritual counselor and ancient techniques healer. Ms. Rumy has experience both in teaching classes on the Healing Arts and in practical healing in Russia, Yugoslavia, Germany, Great Britain and the United States. She has taught and practiced several methods drawn from both modern and ancient systems. Through a synthesis of bio-energy work, hands-on healing, visualization and spiritual counseling, she created an educational paradigm which focuses on treatment of the whole person and not just the effects felt in one area.

Each of the several courses of study at The Gift consists of four two-hour practical lessons focusing on treatment of the whole person.

For more information on January classes, please telephone or fax Natasha Rumy at (773) 274-0905.

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