Around the world of art -- free

DRUMBEATS pound, flutes whistle and hands clap to the rhythm of the On Ensemble, a Los-Angeles based taiko group that blends traditional Japanese sounds with a turntable, drum kit and electronica.

The morning sun shines brightly on a nearly full house sitting in the W.M. Keck Foundation Children’s Amphitheatre at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and no one minds if a parent occasionally gets up with a little one for a potty break.

This is World City, a series of free performances for families that features internationally renowned artists whose work spans the cultural spectrum. The shows, offered on selected Saturdays, are held in conjunction with workshops that teach kids about the cultures represented in the shows.

“We wanted to look at the music, dance and spoken-word traditions that reflect our global community,” says Barbara Leonard, artistic director of Music Center Education. “We have a true family audience, as children come with their parents and grandparents.”

During the September event, nearly 200 people attended performances by On Ensemble and a presentation of “The Pink Dress,” an innovative puppet theater piece put on by Triumvirate Pi Theatre of Culver City.

The next event, scheduled for Oct. 28, will feature music and storytelling from Australia and dance from New Zealand.

Before and after the shows, attendees can participate in a variety of workshops. In September, kids learned how to make a Japanese kite, put together an origami book and practiced heiwa calligraphy.

Stan and Kendyl Young, residents of Glendale, brought their children Spencer, 12, and Braden, 9, to sample the Japanese-themed show and workshops.

“My favorite thing to do was writing in Japanese,” said Braden, standing at the calligraphy table, where people lined up to try their hand at the ancient art. “It was a little hard to make a straight line.”

His sister, Spencer, agreed, saying, “It’s like painting. Writing with the black ink was fun, though. I’m going to hang my words up in my room.”

EACH workshop, led by a local artist, was designed to give kids a souvenir. Peggy Hasegawa, a papermaker and origami artist, showed participants how to make an origami bird for the silver cover of a small book that could be used for writing or drawing.

For Eiko Amano, a ceramic artist, designing the calligraphy project meant teaching cross-cultural understanding on several levels. “Heiwa means peace in Japanese and is written the same way in Chinese, though it’s pronounced differently,” Amano explains. “It’s a challenging time in our world, and it’s important to me to promote peace. Last year, I taught how to write ‘peace’ in Arabic and Farsi.

“It’s not just art for fun. We’re teaching cultural awareness and bridging cultural gaps. It’s important to learn something of your culture and at least learn to write ‘love’ or ‘peace’ in your language.”

Now in its fourth season, World City has become a cultural quilt of programs that represent every corner of the globe. Leonard says the shows feature artists who build on traditions to create art forms “that are alive and very much today.”

The On Ensemble, for example, is a multicultural group of four young musicians that blends elements of folk, jazz, rock and hip-hop into their music and dance.

For the other half of this World City event, puppeteers dressed in black manipulated large, life-like puppets on stage as a narrator and musician told the story of “The Pink Dress.”

The play, about a family held in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II, shared a little girl’s struggle to show that she was a unique individual and not just another person in a camp, where “the enemy” all looked alike.

Children of all backgrounds mingled at the workshop tables, chattering away in English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and assorted languages. While the activities were designed to be Japanese in theme, kids clearly tailored the projects to their own interest and backgrounds.

At the kite-making table, printmaker and designer Todd A. Smith showed participants how to cut out and assemble the small plastic kites. On one end of the table, Carlos Macedo, 14, drew the Mexican flag on his kite, while Amy Liu asked her son Charlie, 5, to draw strawberries on Mommy’s kite.

Charlie, too shy to say anything, proudly held up his creation of colorful squiggles of all shapes and sizes for his dad, James Chen, to admire.

“He gets very excited about coming here,” says Chen, an Alhambra resident. “It’s good for children to learn about these cultural things.”

weekend@latimes.com

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World City

Where: W.M. Keck Foundation Children’s Amphitheater of Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., L.A.

When: Performances and workshops are held 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on selected Saturdays

Price: Free

Info: (213) 972-3379, www.musiccenter.org

Upcoming

* Oct. 28: Paul Taylor will share music and storytelling from Australia; the Kahurangi Maori Dance Theatre will perform dances from New Zealand.

* Dec. 2: David Gonzalez will tell stories from Puerto Rico and South America; ¡Retumba! will perform Pan-Caribbean music and dance.

* Jan. 6, 2007: Melody of China will perform Chinese music; Hsiao Hsi Yuan Puppet Theater will demonstrate budai puppet theater.

* Feb. 10: Nukarik will perform Inuit music and games from Canada; Vinok Worldance will perform music and dances featuring flamenco, Hungarian boot slapping, Chinese ribbon twirling and Canadian music.

* March 10: A Gaelic Gathering by Maire Clerkin will perform music and dance from Ireland.

* March 31: Gangbe Brass Band will play music from Africa.

* May 5: Quetzal will perform music from Mexico with Latin influences; Danza Floricanto/USA will perform dances from Mexico.

* June 2: Halau ‘o Keikiali’i will present dances and music from Hawaii.