Kristiana Kalab has joined the SICA-USA Board and will fill the role of Secretary. We are delighted to be developing the board as we prepare for a rush of post-Covid activity. Please join me in offering gratitude to Kristiana for bringing her innumerable talents to the work of SICA-USA.
SICA-USA Board Member Bio
By Kristiana Kalab
I’ve always been a mover and a shaker. I fell in love with the Dance in college and went on to teach, choreograph, perform and produce dance concerts when I moved to NYC, and later NJ.
In 1979, nine months after my opening at SUBUD NY, I attended the World SUBUD Congress in Toronto. During one of Bapak’s talks, I discovered the need for a new name. I announced to Bapak in a letter, that I was a dancer, teacher and choreographer and would like to have my true Christian name. Subud friends asked if I wanted my spiritual name or a stage name. As far as I was concerned, they were one in the same thing. To date the name Kristiana has been serving me well as a performing arts advocate and an ever-evolving human being.
After Toronto, I joined the SUBUD NY Board of Directors as Vice Chair. While at SUBUD NY, I served as a Helper, Café Coordinator, and Center Chair. I facilitated SICA events, SNY member art shows, performance, and discovered Jerry Chalem’s beta-cams of 250 interviews of members’ “Memories of Bapak” under the stairs in the Library. Subsequently, I went on to raise funds to digitize them all.
Beyond the local level, I contributed to performances at World Congresses at Anugraha, Spokane, Puebla and Freiburg. I organized a childcare/teen program at the SUBUD USA Congress in Cullowee, NC while SEC Vice-chair. Most recently, I served as the SUBUD USA 2020 Congress Chair—a lot of prep work, no Congress! What a blessing the Latihan has been through PANDEMIC times. As a result of Paul Nelson’s PNW Zoom meeting after virtual Latihan, I was lead to initiate and moderate SUBUD Sisters USA Zoom meeting in the early days of the PANDEMIC. Later, I found volunteers to carry on the outreach, once I was no longer able.
I’m really happy to welcome you to the SICA-USA team. Your many amazing contributions to Subud cultural activities and events over many years are appreciated by the board and the general membership. What you did to salvage and resurrect the Memories of Bapak video project was a huge gift to the archives and the future of Subud. I feel privileged to have been working with you on that effort since 2018. I am looking forward to the injection of your creative energy and ideas. LP
Congratulations Kristiana! SICA is lucky to have you. What a perfect fit! You are definitely a mover and a shaker and your talents will serve SICA well. I look forward to seeing your future accomplishments.