Arnolfini Dance Associate
A new funding partnership involving Bristol City Council, Arts Council England, South West and Dance South West has been launched. The Dance Associates scheme will see five dance professionals working in residence at key cultural sites across the city. Hosted by five different venues in Bristol for 18-months, the Associate Artists will shape a programme with their host venues, including performance, workshops and research. Arnolfini will be working with Seeta Patel, a dancer and choreographer who works with both classical and contemporary Bharata Natyam. Throughout her association with Arnolfini Seeta aims to explore her classical and contemporary work as parallel disciplines that inspire each other.
The artists selected for 2009/10 scheme are:
Lisa May Thomas - Picture This
Seeta Patel - Arnolfini
Mark Bruce - Tobacco Factory
Karla Shacklock - Circomedia
Fleur Darkin - Bristol Old Vic
Seeta is a dancer and choreographer working with both classical and contemporary Bharata Natyam. She has chosen to present her classical and contemporary work as parallel disciplines that inspire each other.
As a classical soloist she works with the world-renowned Bharata Natyam exponent Mavin Khoo to achieve excellence. As one of the very few UK born Bharata Natyam soloists she has the endorsement of the Royal Opera House, where she presented her London debut. By producing work of exceptional quality, Seeta hopes to shift the perception of cultural diversity by engaging all types of audiences with the rich art form of Bharata Natyam in its entirety. Her work is integrally enhanced by an orchestra of world class Carnatic musicians.
Seeta’s contemporary work has been supported and nurtured by numerous awards and organisations. She received the Bonnie Bird New Choreography Fund and danceWEB 2008 scholarship amongst others. Her contemporary work challenges many of the current perceptions and aesthetics within current contemporary South Asian work in the UK. Exploring non-linear abstract narratives her work allows much room for the imagination, as well as working with a detailed and visceral movement vocabulary inspired by Bharata Natyam.