Modern, Ballet
Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, Seda is the founder, artistic director and choreographer of Kybele Dance Theater (KDT) since 2003. She has produced and choreographed multiple works that have won her choreography awards from 2017 Outstanding Choreographer Las Vegas Youth America Grand Prix, 2016 McCallum Choreography Festival, 2016 Front and Main Dance Festival, 2016 Outstanding Choreographer from Los Angeles Youth America Grand Prix, 2015 Elite Original Choreography Award, Dance Under the Stars Festival, MAD BAD Festival, as well as the RAW 2011 Los Angeles Performing Artist Award. Her works have been toured and presented in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Fresno, Concord, San Jose, Palm Desert, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, New York and Istanbul, Turkey.
Along with creating and performing, Seda is currently producing new works for Kybele Dance Theater alongside teaching modern dance classes at Santa Monica College as an Adjunct Professor, Yuri Grigoriev School of Ballet program, and Your Neighborhood Dance Studio/Danceline open classes. Additionally, she prepares young students for Spotlight, Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP), Elite dance competitions and college dance auditions with both training as well as original choreography. Her students have been invited to perform numerous times at YAGP finals in New York, and awarded with scholarships for various distinguished schools and intensive programs such as Hubbard Street Dance, Alvin Ailey, Alonzo King Lines Ballet, Netherlands Dans and more.
As an independent artist, Seda has been invited to choreograph and teach for Cal State Fresno, LACSA, Santa Monica Collage, Praxis Project, Cerritos College, Pierce College, Spectrum, Why Dance and LA Dance Festival. She performed with Ney Nava Dance, Liliana de Leon Torsiello, Praxis Project, Lion's Pounce Theater, Lula Washington Dance Theater, Megan and Jeffrey Hornaday, Reggie Brown, Kin Dance, Bethune Theatre Danse, Paradigm Dance Theater, Clairobscure Dance and many others. She was profiled and featured as a dancer on KTLA channel 9, Univision Kmex34, and Fox 11 News with her unique global perspective and eclectic dance background.
Seda’s dance education started at the age of five with French & Russian ballet technique under Turkish Ballerina Suna Ugur’s tutelage. She later completed the rigorous exams of The Royal Academy of Dance in London, England. She has trained, performed and choreographed internationally in Modern, Jazz & Tap dance forms. Seda’s first dance company Les Chats de St. Michel in Istanbul, Turkey won her three national first place prizes in Milliyet Choreography competitions. She was the youngest and only student choreographer in the creative comity of Istanbul High-schools for Turkish National Holiday “19 Mayis Gençlik ve Spor Bayrami". After graduation, Seda came to the United States to continue her education in dance at Santa Monica College receiving her AA degree in Honors. She later graduated with Summa Cum Laude from UCLA World Arts and Cultures Department majoring in dance and choreography. She completed Alvin Ailey program in New York, before returning to Los Angeles to form her multi-media contemporary dance company, Kybele Dance Theater.