Most people can tell you Lebanon is situated in the Middle East. Some might even know its political role in the region. But few can probably talk about the Lebanese people and culture as distinct from other cultures of the region.

A chance to experience and learn about Lebanese traditions will be offered Saturday at 7 p.m., when the Lebanese Social Club hosts its annual culture show at Kerckhoff Grand Salon.

As a nonpolitical and nonreligious student organization, the Lebanese Social Club aims to maintain and foster a cultural experience for students of Lebanese descent and anyone interested in knowing more about Lebanese culture.

The event begins with a dinner featuring traditional Lebanese food such as hummus, pita bread, tabbouleh (herb salad), fatayer (spinach pie), meat pies, cheese pies and other hot and cold mezza, the large appetizer part of a traditional family meal.

“You put (mezza) on the middle of the table – everyone shares,” said Noel Ayoub, the club’s co-vice president and a third-year physiological science student.

Highlights of the show will include two performances of dabke, the cultural dance of Lebanon. The club’s former president Elias Massoud, a fourth-year civil and environmental engineering student, is teaching the dance to club members, who have been learning and rehearsing it this whole quarter.

Belly dancing is also a part of the Lebanese culture, and members of the club will perform at the show. Other planned events include poetry readings and speeches by past presidents.

According to president Dalia Wahab, a third-year political science student, audiences with little or no knowledge of Lebanese culture will not be lost to the cultural performances. The club’s MC will preface every performance with an introduction and explain the act.

“Especially these days, the more information we can get about Lebanese out there, the better off people will be,” Wahab said.
The UCLA Near East Ensemble, under the direction of ethnomusicology Professor A. J. Racy, will also provide live music at the show for the first time in a couple of years.

According to Ayoub, the LSC Culture Show is a way to break through cultural stereotypes that have especially emerged in the past few years.

“This is a way for us to show the UCLA community a different side of the Lebanese culture, not just what you see on the media from the Middle East,” Ayoub said. “This is a completely different side of the Middle East that most people don’t know.”

For students of Lebanese descent who never embraced their heritage, it’s a chance to start, according to the club’s social chair, Renee El-Khoury, a second-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student.

“It’s a chance for you to get back into it and know who you are and know your roots, even just through little things – just being part of the club or the culture show,” El-Khoury said.

Wahab said it is important to show the public that the Middle East isn’t just one large blob of people. The Lebanese Social Club promotes and keeps the Lebanese identity alive among the many different Arab groups.

According to Wahab, the club’s main goal is to foster a supportive family atmosphere, whether that’s taking a trip together to Diddy Riese for ice cream sandwiches, or the Lebanese Regent Network, a large network of Lebanese social clubs across the country, for professional opportunities.

“We want everybody in the Lebanese community … to feel welcome and to know they have a place at a large school like UCLA,” Wahab said.