The Voice Within Featuring Dynamic Kathak Artist Seibi Lee

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Leela Dance Collective presents The Voice Within, featuring veteran kathak artist Seibi Lee in an intimate performance exploring the themes of duality and paradox. Lee renders two ancient stories – Houyi and Chang’e, a heart-rending Chinese story about the love between a mortal hero and an immortal beauty, and Yuki no Onna, a Japanese tale evoking the mystery of the Snow Woman, both in the traditional kathak style. Pulling from two different cultures and traditions, the stories speak to the duality of the material and spirit worlds. Houyi and Minokichi, our mortal heroes, fall in love with Chang’e and Yuki no Onna of the spirit world and experience the beauty and intensity of a love that can never be realized. Rather than interpret these stories as tragic, Lee, a dynamic kathak artist known for her exceptional mastery, sophisticated musicality, and dramatic brilliance, articulates us to embrace the beauty of these emotions and to look closer to find their deeper meaning and beauty and the longing inherent in unattainable love. This experience is a birthing place – a place where one begins to discover oneself. The Voice Within takes place on Thursday, March 31, 2022, 7:00 p.m., at the Taube Atrium Theater located at the San Francisco War Memorial Veterans Building (part of the War Memorial Performing Arts Center).

Lee’s personal journey – navigating her mixed Chinese and Japanese heritage and her love of Western classical music and Eastern classical dance – is expertly interwoven throughout the two stories. In her own life she has struggled with being of many cultures and in some ways of none. This struggle gave way to possibility only when she learned to befriend the feeling of longing. Over time, she began to develop her own voice – a voice that transcends the conflict and confusion that often comes with navigating personal and cultural identity. The Voice Within is a profoundly personal yet universal story of the search for one’s own true self.

Lee is joined on the stage by critically acclaimed musicians Jayanta Banerjee (sitar), Ben Kunin (sarod), Jay Gandhi (bansuri), and Satyaprakash Mishra (tabla). Don’t miss the exclusive Artist Talkback directly following the performance featuring an interactive Q&A session with the artists.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.