Meet Simeon Den | Wellness Practitioner/Instructor & Multi-disciplinary Artist

This article originally appeared in Shoutout LA, Nov 7, 2022

Photos By: Peter Palladino

We had the good fortune of connecting with Simeon Den and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

I’m joyfully aware that everything that I’ve done in the past has prepared me for the now: I went to college in 1968 majoring in Art, unintentionally started studying dance, and two years later intentionally became professional dancer in NY doing concert dance performances and Broadway shows.

In 1983 I moved back to Hawaii to visit and decided to stay for a while so I started teaching dance.
My success at teaching dance & theater prompted me to open a dance studio. In addition to running the school I produced dance & theater events, directed a dance company (choreography, performing, PR, etc.) and produced an annual Miss Island Goddess drag pageant. (“Start your engines!”)

Due to my HIV status I started investigating and studying alternative healing techniques and practices to treat symptoms attributed to AIDS. As a result of my studies in Ch’i energy work that is sourced from the healing protocols of the Shaolin Monks I was chosen by my mentor to become her teaching assistant and administered her classes and public speaking engagements.

When the HIV/AIDS meds became available in 1995 it became a revelation that I was not going to die! All well and good but I had not planned a future, financially or otherwise. I had to catch up. As fate would have it, synchronistically the director of the Broadway national tour of “The King & I” called me out-of-the-blue and hired me. Continue reading the full article here >