The rhythm of words
RONITA TORCATO
|
Neelam Patel combines a dancer's grace with a poet's artistry to bring her words to life.
|
A creative surge: Patel communicates through her art.
INDIAN-AMERICAN poet and performance artist Neelam Patel explored the feminine experience in the world premiere of her new one-woman adults-only experience: "Sensual Reflections", which premiered at the Capital Fringe Festival recently in Washington D.C. An accomplished performer specialising in Odissi, Patel has been lauded for combining a dancer's grace with a poet's linguistic artistry to bring her words to life and for confronting head-on the issues faced by every woman. Patel has previously appeared in "The Vagina Monologues" in Virginia, in several short films, and the pilot for the upcoming ABC series "20 Questions". She was invited to record two original poems on a CD publication "31 Arlington Poets" and was the Featured Poet at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore and the Iota Café in Arlington, VA. Her day job is in Ecommerce website marketing.
Tell us something about yourself, your education and upbringing.
I am Indian-American born in a small village in Gujarat called Valam (near Mehsana) and raised in Voorhees, in the US. I have a B.S. in Computer Science from Rutgers University and currently take classes in acting at Studio Theater Conservatory in Washington DC.
You're an unusual combination of a dancer, a poet and a marketing professional.
I dance because I feel timeless in movement. I write poetry to capture the essence of the moments in my life. Dance and poetry are ways in which I can experience myself as an individual. Life in the Indian culture has deep family connections while the American one has a stronger sense of individuality. The arts are my way of letting my soul breathe and be expressed.
How long have you been writing poetry?
I've always loved writing but actually started calling it something and collecting my work in the last three years. In fact, I think the exact day it happened was when I tore a sheet out of my personal journal and took it to an open-mike poetry reading. Before that, it was just part of a personal process. I started after being confused about why my work in the IT industry didn't wholly satisfy me, and did some soul searching in terms of career choice. I found at the end of that particular search that I had a lot to say.
How does the writing process work for you?
I generally have a creative surge of words waiting to race out of my brain and onto the page so, for me, writing is fast paced and intense. Many times I need to read what I've written later because the words come out so fast that I don't have the time to concentrate and appreciate what was written on the page. It sounds strange, but when it comes to creative process, I've learned it's better not to question it, rather to let it lead me.
Do you agree that acting is a form of exhibitionism?
In that case, any art form requiring an audience is a form of exhibitionism. In my experience, there is a certain communication that occurs from artist to audience, which releases the work from the artist and makes the work a part of the world rather than nesting within the artist's space. For me, it's a point of closure realised by releasing the art to the audience. Simultaneously it is also the point when the piece begins its life in the perception of the audience. At best, it is up to the artist to earn that attention through hard work and enjoy the attention to be true to the character. At worst, the dark side of getting caught up in that seduction is a real possibility. As a writer, if an actor can bring my words to life and give a visceral understanding of my material, then that actor's task is an important vehicle to my writing.
What are your aims as a dancer and writer?
My goal at the moment is to encourage others to find their own unique visions and paths while I am working hard at excavating my own. I see my work as an effort to heal others and myself in order to create larger and larger pockets of peace within the world and ourselves.
And your goals as an actress?
For now, I want to take more acting classes in order to express my own work. It's a joy to be able to deliver my work through my own body as an actress. Right now, I act in order to activate the rest of me and to express my own words. I don't have a specific goal but I do want to grow as an actress for now.
What next? Your future plans?
I want to write more than I currently do. I have a play in mind about a woman stepping out of the shadows of others. Also I want to explore the psychology of soldiers who return home from war. Their voices are not heard mainly because those souls are locked inside layers that had to be created to protect, to psychologically sustain wartime realities. Finally, I have a lot of poems that weren't included in my show; some that were can be tweaked into song lyrics. I want to play with that as well. It may be that the dancer in me is informing my writing and a natural rhythm seems to generally emerge.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Magazine
