Empowered Women International presents Neelam Patel
in the powerful and moving one-woman performance
SARI TO SKIN
Saturday, March 27, 2010 from 7-9pm
1801 N. Quaker Lane
Alexandria, VA 22302
Advance Tickets: $15 per person or two for $25
Please RSVP by emailing Events@ewint.org and paying for your ticket(s)
through Network for Good (remember to indicate this event in the designation box)
At the Door: $20 per person
Free Parking
Empowered Women International is proud to present local writer and performing artist Neelam Patel in her third solo production, entitled “Sari to Skin.” In this new performance, Patel fuses dance and poetry with storytelling to explore the complexity and confusion of her interwoven Indian American experience. A reception to meet the artist and with the opportunity for Q&A will follow the performance.
Patel’s first solo production was a critically acclaimed and sold out presentation, Sensual Reflections (2006), that The Washington Post called “powerful poetry.” Reviewer Pamela Squires noted, “Far from bemoaning how difficult it is to be bicultural, [Patel] is energized by it and uses it to break out as an artist in the Western mode.” Her second show, Stripping Borders was presented in June of 2008 for her Arlington County Grant for Individual Artists. Both resulted in sold-out performances.
In her performances, Patel challenges herself and the audience to develop a single identity despite conflicting influences that life brings. Trained in Indian dance, the rhythms of her movement are paired with reflective poetry about everydayliving. Her words are charged with the vulnerable intimacy of personal relationships, the grand power of feminine sexuality, and the spiritual awakening resulting from deep questioning.
Neelam Patel has performed her unique brand of performance art at dozens of venues in the DC metropolitan area and New York City. She has appeared in The Vagina Monologues at Cramer Theatre in Manassas, VA, in several short films, and in the pilot for the upcoming ABC series “20 Questions.” She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Rutgers University and further training at the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory.
This program is made possible in part with support from the Alexandria Commission for the Arts.