Seydou Coulibaly is one of Mali’s leading dancers, teachers, and choreographers. He began dancing professionally at the age of twelve, with the Artistic Troupe of the District of Bamako, the capital city of Mali, and from 1980 through 1990, was the troupe’s highest ranking actor and dancer. Coulibaly has won numerous awards at national Malian dance competitions. In 1988 he was awarded the title of Best Actor and Best Dancer in the piece "The Poor." In 1990 he was again awarded the title of Best Dancer, this time for his role in the ballet "The Challenge." In 1992, along with the dance company Komme Djosse of which he is both founder and artistic director, he won a medal from the Malian Minister of the Arts.

Since emmigrating to America, Coulibaly has been teaching at Brown University, the arts magnet Roger Williams Middle School (both located in Providence, Rhode Island), the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center at the National Theatre Institute in Waterford, Connecticut, and at the Dance Complex in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has held the position of Artist-in-Residence at multiple schools throughout New England including The Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, The Windsor School in Boston, Massachusetts, and The Swinburne School in Foster, Rhode Island.

In addition to his teaching career, Coulibaly dances and choreographs for Babemba USA, a world music and dance ensemble. He has recently reestablished Komme Djosse in the United States.

Coulibaly is uniquely qualified to teach and demonstrate West African dance and culture. Unlike most Africans who emmigrate to the United States today, Coulibaly was educated according to ancient tradition: rather than attend a school modeled on Western educational practices or based upon Qur’anic teachings, Coulibaly received his education from village elders, traditional rituals, initiations into secret societies, and master dance teachers in the Segu region of Mali. As a result of his studies, all of Coulibaly’s work is thoroughly reserached and heavily steeped in folkloric tradition.

The diffusion and disappearance of Mande culture due to the effects of colonization has lead to a lack of cultural knowledge by many of today’s Malian performers. As a result a pan-West African neostylized popular dance form has emerged. With his knowledge, Coulibaly is able to maintain the distinction between Malian dance and culture and that of the surrounding West African countries.

Having established a firm basis of support in the Rhode Island – Massachusetts vicinity, Coulibaly is now seeking to extend his classes to other regions in the United States.