Seibi Lee, photo by Margo Moritz

Chinese Canadian Seibi Lee is the Pricipal Dancer of the Chitresh Das Dance Company. Seibi began her Kathak studies with Pandit Chitresh Das in Toronto, Canada in 1991.  Realizing the importance of studying intensely and directly with Panditji, Seibi relocated to the Bay Area in 1998.  She began touring nationally and internationally with the acclaimed Chitresh Das Dance Company in 2003 and, as principal dancer at CDDC, has earned rave reviews for her dual dramatic roles of demon Marich and beloved monkey prince Hanuman in Panditji’s world premier of “Sita Haran” in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Kolkata, India.  In Novemeber of 2008, she presented her debut full length solo performance at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center and has been chosen as OACC’s artist-in-residence for 2012-2013.  Seibi embodies the depth of Panditji’s training and has emerged as a dynamic and powerful force in the next generation of Kathak artists.

To view video highlights of Seibi, please click here.

We’ll also have a ticket giveaway to watch Seibi at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. So tune in for details!

Members of the Ugatlahi Artist Collective stand in front of the effigy they’ve built. Photo by R.J. Lozada

Contributor R.J. Lozada files another installment of his summer reporting trip to the Philippines, this time he observes the effigy building process and profiles the Ugatlahi Artist Collective — a set of men and women artist who work with Bayan and member organizations annually to create the effigy for the SONA ng Bayan, or the People’s SONA (State of the Nation Address), where thousands of Filipinos took to the main streets of the Philippines to protest the Aquino Administration during his annual State of the Nation Address.

With Host R.J. Lozada.