About AEI
“Promoting Peace and Inter Cultural Understanding Through the universal language of the Arts“
What We Are
Artists Embassy International (AEI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, all-volunteer arts organization built on a simple belief: the arts transcend cultures and bring people together across borders. Everything we do — our productions, our exhibitions, our partnerships — is built to share that belief out in practice.
AEI operates entirely on the generosity of our donors. There is no institutional funding behind us; the community of art lovers who believe in our mission is what makes every performance, every festival, and every cultural exchange possible.
Our Network
AEI doesn’t work in isolation. We’re part of a web of arts and cultural organizations, connected through overlapping membership and years of shared projects:
- United Poets Laureate International invites the Poetic Dance Theater Company to perform at its World Congresses of Poets, held roughly every two years in cities around the world. Several UPLI board members are also active AEI members. (www.upli-wcp.org)
- Poets of the Vineyard co-sponsors our annual Multicultural Poetry Reading and Potluck Lunch alongside the Redwood Empire Chinese Association, and regularly features AEI’s Dancing Poetry events in its newsletter.
- Alameda Island Poets runs High School Poet Laureate programs, with winning students honored each year at our Dancing Poetry Festivals. AIP also helps book AEI members for readings and workshops.
- Redwood Empire Chinese Association has been a steady partner for more than twenty years, co-hosting the Multicultural Poetry Reading and Lunch and hosting an AEI delegation each year at their Chinese New Year Celebration. (www.recacenter.org)
Where We Came From
AEI’s leadership has passed through three presidents in its history: founder Althya Youngman, followed by Artist & choreographer Natica Angilly founder/director of The Poetic Dance Theater Company, and today by Tatseena director/choreographer for her troupe the Serpent Sirens.
Althya Youngman and the Founding of AEI
AEI was founded in 1951 by Althya Youngman, a singer and pianist who had toured the world and seen firsthand how the arts could bring people together across cultural lines. Part of that conviction took shape while studying with Mahatma Gandhi in India. Althya spent years building the foundation the organization still stands on today.
The Poetic Dance Theater Company
Natica Angilly’s Poetic Dance Theater Company grew out of one specific idea: that poetry and dance, fused into a single art form that belong together, and could help build harmony between people and cultures. Natica Angilly and her husband, poet Richard Angilly (International Poet Laureate Man of Letters), brought together dancers from a range of traditions to make that idea real. Dancing to poetry is an old art form; under the Angillys, it was rebuilt for a modern audience without losing what made it work in the first place.
Since its founding, the company has performed by invitation in Marrakesh, Morocco; Madrid and Toledo, Spain; Beijing and Tai’an, China; Taipei, Taiwan; High Wycombe, England; Rome and Assisi, Italy; Budapest, Hungary; Osaka, Japan; Larissa, Greece; and Bangkok, Thailand.
Natica built a movement vocabulary for poetic dance that’s entirely her own. Every piece is its own world: original choreography, costumes, and props, built to be as visually striking as it is emotionally resonant. Natica has also published many books on Poetic Dance which you can find in our media community art section.
Leadership
Tatseena, President
Tatseena leads AEI as its new President, a role she took on after decades as a performer, teacher, and troupe leader. Tatseena began studying with Natica in the early 70’s those early day classes filled Tatseena with inspiration helping influence Tatseena’s desire to explore poetry and story blended with dance as a unified art form. Years later Tatseena brought her own dance group Serpent Sirens to perform under AEI’s umbrella before stepping into leadership.
Tatseena (far left) and Natica (center)
Tatseena began teaching dance in 1979 and, in 1999, joined Angilly’s Poetic Dance Theatre Company, where she performed original choreography set to her own poetry each year at the Dancing Poetry Festival. In 2000, as one of Angilly’s Poetic Dancers, Tatseena traveled to Taiwan as an Ambassador for Peace, performing at the International Poetry Convention, an experience that deepened her commitment to the arts as a bridge between cultures.
In 1984, Tatseena spent a month in Egypt and another in Greece, followed by seven months touring Europe as a solo artist, teaching workshops along the way. She returned to Europe in 2013 to lead workshops in Portugal and Spain. In recognition of her contributions to Middle Eastern dance, she recognized as an awarded Dance Master in Middle Eastern styles in 2007.
For ten years, Tatseena produced the Belly Dance Fantasy Festival in San Leandro, as well as benefit shows supporting families affected by cancer and wildfires — driven by her belief that “we are here to help each other.” She also hosted Cave Camp, a rustic retreat, for over a dozen years up in the gold country of Calaveras County for families and friends.
Tatseena (far left) & crew
Known for her versatility, live-music improvisation, and command of prop use including swords and snake dancing, Tatseena earned a reputation for transforming into characters with a distinctive theatrical style — dubbed “the queen of tableau” by Ellen Cruz. Some favorites by community with Her original productions include the Dreams of Cleopatra, a classical Middle Eastern showcase of her craft; Gaia’s Message, an eco-awareness fusion piece featuring original headdress and costume design by Tatseena; Under the Sea, a mermaid-themed work culminating in a striking statement on ocean pollution; and her troupe Serpent Sirens pirate-themed productions performed annually for a decade on the main stage of the former Northern California Pirate Fest, as well as over 10 years in October at Pirates of Emerson.
A healing artist as well as a performer, Tatseena has practiced bodywork and natural wellness since 1981 while working for Physical Therapists, she is a long time certified CMT. She fuses therapy — incorporating chakra and color work into her dance classes to students of all levels, and taught many years at Harbin Hot Springs New Years celebration as well as quarterly classes. She has shared her art in school educational programs, senior centers, and danced alongside musicians including It’s a Beautiful Day and Just Cream. Tatseena helped facilitate read-rounds at national poetry conventions with Artists Embassy International for many years.
As a long time teacher “I encourage students to be true to what is within, fostering their own creativity,” Tatseena says, “for each person has a unique connection to Source.” With over four decades of dance behind her, she takes pride in watching her “dance tree” continue to grow through the students and collaborators she has touched.
Beyond the stage, Tatseena is a former professional spelunker who appeared on an episode of Reading Rainbow filmed in 1989, as well as a naturalist, she is a singer, custom costumer, and devoted animal rescuer.