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# Leila Steinberg's Assemblies in Motion helps at-risk youth find voice through poetry
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/poetic-group/
- Published: 2007-04-18T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:35:40.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Events, Ocean Park, #archive-import

*Assemblies in Motion offers individuals a place to release the pain brought on by life*

OCEAN PARK Her legs trembling, voice quivering and hands shaking as she gripped a piece of paper, a young woman bared her soul to the audience, recounting the story of how her mother recently relapsed back into drug addiction.

The audience at the Edgemar Center for the Arts silently absorbed the performance, some with their eyes closed, others looking on as if she was telling the story of their own lives. It was a story to which many could relate.

At the end, the audience applauded and praised the young writer for her courage. Another young artist followed, this time to talk about a relationship in his life. Then another young artist rose, and then another — all with stories about difficult relationships in their lives.

With an encouraging smile, the organizer of Monday’s program — Leila Steinberg, the former manager of slain singer Tupac Shakur — sat to the side, nodding along as her young disciples performed.

Through her non-profit organization, Assemblies in Motion, the Venice resident has helped hundreds of confused teenagers, former juvenile hall inmates and once-misguided youths find their way through art.

Art is “the most substantial way to reach young people,” Steinberg said.

Every Monday night, the doors to the Edgemar Center for the Arts is open to anyone interested in participating or viewing Assemblies in Motion’s two hour long performance session. At the end of each, Steinberg assigns a topic for participants to perform their interpretations the following week, be it through song, rap, poetry or essay.

Previous topics have included pain, abandonment, love, friendship and respect.

> “Jeremy is a child prodigy, coming from circumstances that even I don’t understand,”

> “Jeremy is hungry for an opportunity to have support around him.” — Rich said on Tuesday

This week’s topic was relationships. The performances are a part of the healing process for many of these individuals whose lives have been scarred by drugs, crime, or some other form of personal struggle.

“Art allows us to have that initial conversation,” Steinberg said.“My method is helping young people identify and go to the heart of their issues.”

The ongoing issue that 13-year-old Jeremy Naidoo has faced his entire life is the relationship with his parents. Currently living with his foster parent, Naidoo was reunited with his father on Monday night.

Sitting a few rows back, Naidoo’s father sat and watched silently as his son performed a rap song about their relationship, a song that questioned why his father left. It was a performance that drew a standing ovation from the audience.

Standing along the wall, Cheryl Rich of Culver City, the woman who reunited the family, praised Naidoo’s father, who is sobering up from a drug addiction. She briefly told him her story of drug addiction and how her own son was killed.

Many performances were followed by a brief feedback and support session where several members of the audience would praise the performer for showing the courage to publicly tell such personal stories. The Monday night Assemblies in Motion sessions are not about performances, it’s about supporting each other and passing no judgment.

“It’s a place where all different backgrounds, all different stories can finally be in a space, can finally begin to have a dialogue, through one poem, one song, one rap to understand that we are not that different,” Steinberg said.

For 27-year-old Skim, a native New Yorker who now lives in Los Angeles, Assemblies in Motion is like a sanctuary.

Like everyone at Assemblies in Motion, Skim has her own personal struggles. An Asian-American who immigrated from South Korea, Skim believes that she is a minority within a minority.

“I embody all contradictions anyone can imagine,”she said.“I’m an immigrant female in a patriarchal world. A female who doesn’t look like a typical female and who is gay.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 18, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/041807.pdf?ref=smdp.com)