Betty Chau Nguyen | Advisor

 

Betty Chau began her journey in music and singing at the age of 5, with piano lessons and singing in the church choir. Under the direction of Mr. Trieu Phu, Ms. Howard Be Kim Nhung, Mr. Luu Tuan, and Mr. Cao Xuan Minh, she performed traditional Vietnamese dance for 11 years in many events in the Greater Vancouver area and Washington state with Me Linh dance troupe, Vietnamese Youth Performers of BC, and La Phong Productions. For the past 14 years, she has been singing, choreographing, mc’ing, and organizing events in the Greater Vancouver area, Chicago, and upstate New York.

 

She currently works for the world-renowned Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, where she also co-advises the Cornell Vietnamese Association. She still serves as an advisor to SEACHS and continues her passion for performance as a founding member of the Quintessence vocal ensemble. 

 

 

 

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Helen Hoang | Soloist

 

Ever since she was a young girl, Helen has always nurtured a passion for art performances. When she was 13, she got accepted into the National Dance school and went on tours around the middle region of Vietnam. However, when she started a family, she postponed her career to devote fully to her two sons. Now that they have both grown up, she can go back to pursuing her passion through being part of SEACHS.

 

 

 

Kathara Indigenous Pilipino Arts Collective Society (Website)

 

A community-based non-profit organization composed of artists, community workers, advocates, retirees, students, caregivers, TFWs, and professionals. Kathara is multi-generational, multi-ethnic, first and second generation Filipinos & Canadians. They strive to center the indigenous voice while including other ethnicities that support cultural survival.  Kathara also joins with other culture bearers actively developing solidarity between Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines and First Nations of Canada. They teach Philippine Indigenous Peoples’ history and share the arts that help remember ancestors through dance, music, martial arts, theatre, and rites of passage.

 

 

 

Khac-Chi Bamboo Music (Website)

 

Born in Vietnam, musician Hoang Ngoc Bich trained at the National Musical Institute in Hanoi.  Upon moving to Canada, she co-founded The Khac Chi Ensemble with her husband and fellow Hanoian, Ho Khac Chi, to preserve the traditional music of Vietnam.  Ho Khac Chi is a master of the one-stringed zither, dan bau, and Hoang Ngoc Bich provides vocals, arrangements, k'longput (percussive tubes), t'rung (suspended bamboo xylophone) and tam thap luc (hammered dulcimer). Using traditional Vietnamese instruments and singing traditional melodies, the Vietnamese duel creates a haunting, rhythmic sound. Touring internationally since 1982, the group now resides in Vancouver, Canada. In addition, the group often features Le To Quyen (vocals), Nguyen Hoai Chau (percussion) and Randy Reine-Reusch (background vocals, khen be and sinh tien).  

 

 

 

Kim-Nhung Be Howard | Choreographer & Advisor

 

Recruited at the age of 11 by a dance college in Vietnam, she received an intensive training that combined academic education with rigorous dance training in Russian classical ballet and folkloric dance practices. Upon graduation, she toured internationally with a Vietnamese ambassadorial dance troupe for many years. Travelling to India, she studied the classical North Indian dance form Kathak. Her extensive repertoire includes traditional T’ai dance, the traditional dances of Vietnam and folk dances of India and Eastern Europe;  her performances have encountered high praise in many countries, including Sweden, Italy, Germany, Russia, Mongolia and the United States. 

 

Currently residing in the Greater Vancouver area, she teaches, performs and choreographs. In 2009 she co-founded SEACHS, and her choreography and expertise continue to guide the organization.    

 

 

 

 

Lan Joyce | Advisor

 

Lan Joyce is one of the first members and founders of SEACHS. She has been an active participant in all of our activities, from singing, dancing to advising. Lan likes to dance, sing, write songs, and especially enjoys teaching children to sing and dance. 

 

With her husband, Jack, Lan co-owns ITMB Publishing, which has always been one of our most supportive sponsors.

 

 

 

Monsoon Society (Website)

 

The Monsoon Society is a registered non-profit society in the Canadian province of British Columbia, founded with the mission to support and advance the state of Southeast Asian cultural arts knowledge and expression. Their vision is to establish and foster an active community engaged in the development and dissemination of knowledge and training for the cultural arts of Southeast Asia, as they relate to martial arts and culture, including traditional fighting arts, weapons making, dance performance, music and song, traditional musical instruments, language, religious and geopolitical history, healing arts, arts and crafts, traditional foods and food preparation, and traditional dress and textiles. Within such a community, it is envisioned that traditional knowledge will be researched, taught, preserved, and expressed, thereby promoting health and well- being, cultural celebration, personal enjoyment and satisfaction, social growth, and cultural diversity.

 

 

 

 

Ngoc Hoa | Advisor

 

Nancy was born in Vietnam and immigrated to Canada as a young adult. She loves to dance, so when she was first introduced to SEACHS, she was immediately captivated by the Vietnamese cultural dances and joined their dance troupe. She has been with SEACHS since 2009 and is currently a dancer, singer and also acts as an Advisor.
 

 

 

 

Thai Dramatic Arts and Cultural Association of BC (Website)

 

Officially founded in 2012 by Tateya Hurford and Sirapat Topukeaw. Together with dedicated volunteers of the Thai community in Vancouver, the association was established with the aim to encourage the understanding of Thailand and its cultures through variety of arts of music and dancing: classical, regional, folk, dance-drama, etc. With the creativity in introducing different performances, the innovative-yet-traditional design of beautiful costumes, Thai Dramatic Arts and Cultural Association of BC has become one of the leading Thai Performing Arts associations that is committed to celebrating and advancing Thai traditional cultures through the arts of folk dances and music in British Columbia, Canada.

 

 

 

 

V3 - Vietnam Three Regions Society  (Website)

 

V3 is a group comprised of primarily young Vietnamese individuals with the purpose of retaining and promoting the Vietnamese culture.  V3 was formed in the fall of 2006, and has since actively involved in several community events.  V3 started out as a small group of people and soon after expanded to include individuals from different ethnicity who shared the same vision, goals, and passion.  The group is well recognized by the Lower Mainland community.  Activities carried out by the group made positive changes through building collaborations with other ethno-cultural organizations, broad based community and government agencies.  Today, V3 is comprised of more than 50 members between ages of 10-40, and is supported by the parent and various organizations.

 

 

 

 

VanTam Music  (Website)

 

Hà-Sam has been in the music industry since he was in his early 20s; he’s now in his 70s so you can imagine how much he loves art.  He has been active in the Vietnamese community and the multicultural community at large since 1998; and now, he has devoted majority of his time to help SEACHS promote the Southeast Asian cultures.