Montgomery County: Japanese arts, culture in spotlight at Long Branch Library

The grace, strength and humor of 2000 years of Japanese arts and culture will be presented by Shizumi Shigeto Manale at the next program in the "Long Branch Library Celebrates its Many World Cultures" series to be held on Saturday, February 7 at 2 p.m. The library is located at 8800 Garland Ave. in Silver Spring.Shizumi has been trained by well-known masters in traditional and contemporary theatre, the art of the kimono, Samurai swordsmanship, calligraphy, masks, Haiku, the secret language of fans, origami and the traditional tea ceremony. Her documentary, "Geisha: An Artist's Journey," aired on PBS.

The free programs in the series, sponsored by the Friends of the Library, Montgomery County, are designed to facilitate understanding of the many cultures represented by ethnic groups that live in the community and use the Long Branch Library.

Other programs in the series - all of which will begin at 2 p.m. - will includeperformances by the Caribbean musical group Goombay on Saturday, April 4, and Spilling Ink, an Indian group on Saturday, May 2. For more information about Shizumi, or the cultural series, contact the library at 240-777-0910.