The Art of Faux Pas #9 - Seeta Patel

Seeta Patel is an award-winning choreographer and dancer based in London. 
She began her training under the guidance of Kiran Ratna in 1990. She has since worked with a range of Bharatanatyam and contemporary dance professionals including (and to name a few) Mavin Khoo or Darshan Singh Bhuller. She has also performed and toured with a number of companies such as DV8 Physical Theatre and Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company amongst others.

Seeta is an Associate Artist at Sadlers Wells (London). 

More recently, her work ‘The Rite of Spring’ was nominated for an Olivier Award in the Best New Dance Category, making her the first woman of colour nominated in this category. The piece has also just been nominated for a National Dance Awards in Best Classical Choreography, her company in Best Independent Company Category,, and one of her collaborator Sooraj Subramaniam, for Outstanding Male Classical Performance in ‘The Rite of Spring’ ….. Best of luck!!!!! 

Compassion and integrity are the two words that come to mind when reflecting on the chat we had together. Compassion towards herself, compassion towards the live performance - a space where everything can happen. We talked about the incredible power of art, the invaluable chance being able to create represents, misogynie, racism, cats, tripping on stage… 

I hope you’ll enjoy this chat as much as I did! 

Transcript

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Art of Faux Pas. Here, we celebrate the artistic fuck ups, the feelings of failure, the blackouts, the falls, the unfollowed rules, the invaluable learning experiences within the creative process. All this With kindness, amusement, and respect. 

Today we are chatting with Seeta Patel.

I would usually keep the intro to a minimum but there is a lot of exciting things to say about Seeta! 

Seeta is an award-winning choreographer and dancer based in London. She began her training under the guidance of Kiran Ratna in 1990. She has since worked with a range of Bharatanatyam and contemporary dance professionals including (and to name a few) Mavin Khoo or Darshan Singh Bhuller. She has also performed and toured with a number of companies such as DV8 Physical Theatre and Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company amongst others.

Seeta is an Associate Artist at Sadlers Wells (London). 

More recently, her work ‘The Rite of Spring’ was nominated for an Olivier Award in the Best New Dance Category, making her the first woman of colour nominated in this category. The piece has also just been nominated for a National Dance Awards in Best Classical Choreography, her company in Best Independent Company Category,, and one of her collaborator Sooraj Subramaniam, for Outstanding Male Classical Performance in ‘The Rite of Spring’ - I am jubilating for you Seeta….. Best of luck!!!!! 

Compassion and integrity are the two words that come to mind when reflecting on the chat we had together. Compassion towards herself, compassion towards the live performance - a space where everything can happen. We talked about the incredible power of art, the invaluable chance being able to create represents, misogynie, racism, cats, tripping on stage… 

I hope you’ll enjoy this chat as much as I did! 

Léa: Hi [00:03:00] Seeta, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today. I'm, I'm really happy that we have this time together. Um, I think let's start right away with an introduction, if you could share with us your name, your age, where you're from and what you do. 

Seeta: I’m Seeta Patel. I am 43 years old and I'm a choreographer and a dancer, lesser dancer each day, but more a choreographer these days. And I'm the artistic director of my company, Seeta Patel Dance. 

Léa: That’s wonderful. Are you able to recall what's your first memory of dance? 

Seeta: I was thinking about this last night when, when I looked through the questions you sent me and, um, it's funny actually when I think about it and I don't think about it as dance. I just love the video, which is Thriller. We used to have it on VHS and I watched it I don't know if I had some morbid fascination with zombies or something, but I just loved it. It was like a story. It was [00:04:00] incredible. It was so ahead of its time. And I didn't even know, but it connected with me when I was like a little kid, tiny little kid.

Léa: Did you try to learn the choreography? 

Seeta: No, I didn't. You see, I didn't feel like I'm, I'm not a sort of dancer's dancer in that sense. I wasn't wanting to do dance since I was born or whatever, anything like that. I think it's sort of just, yeah. Part of growing up and then you find it, I found it quite casual to get into dance and then it only got serious later. So, yeah. 

Léa: Did you know from an early age that you could make a career in dance? 

Seeta: Absolutely not. Oh my goodness. I think that, I mean, I'm coming from a Gujarati background. We lived in Bristol in the early 80s, and there were very few Indian people there. You know, the few of us that were there congregated at the local temple, and that's where sort of, you know, I was very ingrained in the culture, but [00:05:00] actually the dance style I do and isn't from, that part of India.
And so it's not really something that was, you know, in my family or in extended family circles or anything like that. And it was just a way to connect with something because someone local happened to be teaching it and they had such a kind of infectious joy for it with lots of scrapbooks of pictures of dancers and things, you know, I, it was a hobby. 
And I think it was a hobby, even when I started to feel serious about it. I remember my dad once saying, you know, it is just a hobby, Seeta. And. And I was like, okay, um, so no. And then I went to normal university. I studied a normal sort of vocational course, like a lot of Indian first, second generation immigrants do.
And then, yeah, it wasn't until sort of in my early twenties that I thought maybe this could be something. And even then it was a very tentative step. It wasn't fully [00:06:00] committed until I tried. And then I thought, okay, no, I think I can keep going. 

Léa: So what was that step? Did you, did you take more classes? Did you go to a school?

Seeta: No, well, I have done all of those things in private classes. I mean, the way that Bharatanatyam is taught is, is yes, we learn in a group sort of setting, but also when you start getting serious, you do go and take private lessons. And I was doing that from the age of 12. Um, and that kind of thing, but after university, so not, not after university, as I, sort of went to university, I sort of disconnected from it a bit because I was far away from my teacher and, and then tried to reconnect in my second year and through that I met, I met someone who offered me a job in the end and I was in the second year of my university course, you would, they would let me finish my third year, which, you know, which was really important to get my degree at that point because I put so much effort in.[00:07:00] So I took a sabbatical actually from the university, they would allow me to go back after a year and rejoin the course. So I took a sabbatical, joined this person's company, took a second sabbatical because I wanted to do the following year of touring. And by then I kind of knew. 

Léa: Did you ever go back to uni to finish that course?

Seeta: Nope. I did my three years out of five and I got a bachelor's degree. And that's it. I went to a graduation. I did all of those things, but I, I haven't really looked back. I think when you do something and you see it incrementally kind of being viable, you're like, okay, I think this is it. And 20, last year was my 20th year as a professional dancer… And I was like, wow, this time just sort of creeps up on you. I can't believe it. 

Léa: And are you able to articulate today why dance? 

Seeta: No, uh, I feel like it's just [00:08:00] what the sort of cards I've been dealt and I've gone with it. And yes, I love it, otherwise I wouldn't do it because it's not something you do if you don't really love it, because it's very difficult, um, and it's not very forgiving a lot of the time. But I just don't see myself doing something else. And when I, in the past, sort of thought about, leaving dance or doing something else, completely different, I, I don't feel so happy. And so I take that as a gauge to think, no, I should still be doing this. Not having it in my life, not having this life and imagining and playing that out in my head doesn't make me happy.
Dance doesn't always make me happy, but that's, you know, that's with anything. I don't think anything in real life makes you happy all the time, except maybe my cat. 

Léa: The constant. 

Seeta: Yes, [00:09:00] absolutely. 

Léa: Um, you worked with other people as a dancer before starting making your own work. Um, so I guess this question has like two parts: what's your best memory on stage as a dancer and what's your best memory on stage as a witness of your own work? 
Seeta: Gosh, um, I have lots of great memories just because I've been very lucky to have worked with some very cool people. I mean, on my 31st birthday, we opened at the Sydney Opera House with DV8. My role was very tiny in the show, but it was an experience. Um, I don't know if that sort of, that, no, I do know. It wasn't my sort of shining best moment on the stage. I think I feel like I shined the most as a dancer in my guise as a Bharatanatyam soloist. Haven't done a huge [00:10:00] amount within that world, compared to many out there.
But when I have, it's felt so profound. And so much like I'm part of something bigger. Even though I'm doing it by myself on the stage. If that makes sense. Um, so that's, yeah. My, I think the show that I did, The Wild Card at Sadler's Wells back in 2014, it really did take me to that place. 
Um, and then, in terms of witnessing my own work, I'd say it would, you know, pretty clearly be The Rite of Spring, obviously when we first premiered it.With the six dancer version in, in uh, Newcastle, Dance City. Um, but also seeing it at Sadler's Wells with this full, in its full glory of twelve dancers and the full orchestra accompanying us, [00:11:00] the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Obviously, I mean, that's kind of bonkers. I, I just can't get my brain around doing something quite like that.
It was a trial by fire, for sure. And a labour of love and all of these other clichés, but I feel like I birthed something and, you know. I don't have children, so I don't know that for sure, but it does feel like I birthed something from my heart. 

Léa: Yeah, it sounds so powerful. Um, how many times did you tour this work?

Seeta: I mean, this work had such a long journey because I started with a small commission to try out a few ideas back in 2017. I got five dancers who very generously paid their own travel to come from all around the world to be with me for three weeks. I did some different things in that time with ensemble work with them.
And the thing that sort of, you know, just made itself very clear that it needed to be made fully was the Rite Spring I made in that three [00:12:00] weeks. I made like an eight minute excerpt at the very beginning with five dancers. And yeah, from that, we garnered so much support from so many venues to commission, completing that work.
Again, it was a six dancer version with recorded music. It needed to go through that for me, for the fact that I was, you know, sort of new in creating ensemble work like this to offer me the money and the resource to do 12 people with an orchestra was never going to happen straight away, which meant this work had a life before this big version of touring around the UK. It actually went to Belgium once, obviously COVID hit, we were due to do a second tour of it, but COVID hit, then we've done an outdoor version of the work. We made, um, a filmed version of the work for the Edinburgh Fringe Player during COVID. And then, we [00:13:00] did another film version which you can project and map onto buildings in a huge scale, so we presented that and that's still kind of, you know, hopefully we can share that with more audiences.
And then the last iteration has been with 12 dancers in the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on the big stage, and then we did tour again in November last year where we presented in concert venues. So we were sharing the stage with the orchestra behind us rather than in the pit, and that was an incredible experience.
And funnily enough, as much as you kind of think of a dance house where it's specifically for dance is amazing, having the orchestra on the stage and playing like with us on that same platform was quite extraordinary. So it's had many iterations and I'm hoping it can get international now because that's where I really feel it needs to be for more audiences to see what we've done.
Um, but yeah, it's been a long old road. 

Léa: What’s your [00:14:00] worst memory on stage as a dancer? Or, and as a witness of your own work or, or as a dancer of your own work, because I know you've done solo works as well. 

Seeta: Yeah. Um, I mean, early on in my career, there was a platform at the Southbank at the Purcell Room and I was doing a short solo in a mixed bill with other artists and I tripped and I fell. And I bounced straight back up and I kept, kept going. But it was quite mortifying because it was quite a big deal. So it was my first time in the Purcell Room, I was like, okay, you know. I can't believe that happened. I don't know if it's the worst. I mean, I got over it very quickly. It's, you know, this stuff happens.
It's difficult to say what's your worst moment because I, I feel very for someone that I feel is actually not so compassionate to myself and a bit of a perfectionist, I do have a lot of compassion around what happens live in that moment on the stage. You know, [00:15:00] things happen. It's the nature of the beast.

Léa: Yeah. A Faux pas is a socially embarrassing action or mistake. What would be your definition of failure and has it changed over time? 

Seeta: Um, this is a very difficult question and I feel like a faux pas and a failure are different things to me. Um, I think I fail myself when I let myself be dragged down by negativity that I feel around me.
That's, manifests because I hold so, hold on so strongly to my value system and my politics, that it does rub people up the wrong way. And as much as I don't care that, you know, I don't wish to change my value system for people to like me. Um, [00:16:00] it does upset me that I'm, you know, I feel quite misunderstood.
And so when I let that feeling, those feelings bring me down, I think that's, I don't even think failure is the right word. That's a big, that's the biggest disservice to myself. 

Léa: What’s your definition of success? And has this definition changed over time? 

Seeta: Yes, it has, but not that I've ever thought to myself, well, this is success.  As and when things, good things happen, whether they're little, whether they're someone that you've touched as an individual, or whether you go and do something massive and you know, it touches something more existential or in terms of, you know, representation on these stages and those bigger things, you know, the successes come and go.
And I try and [00:17:00] take joy out of them as much as I can enjoy, not out of them, but I experienced the joy that they offer. Um, I have no problem being a dork about it and being giddy like a school girl when good stuff happens. Stuff happens. I mean, you know, I am like that. There's still that possibility, which I love about myself.
I'm not so serious when it comes to those, you know, sort of enjoying those things. 

Léa: Yeah. Celebrating them…

Seeta: Um, yeah, I mean, I see success in so many different shapes and sizes and they do change over time. I think more, what the thing that changes more over time is what, what you think you want, because sometimes you hold onto the things we think we want and without realizing and without reflecting, because there's not always time to reflect.

You're like, I don't think I want that anymore. And isn't that weird? It's like a security blanket has been taken because you might have wanted something for so long and it's either out of reach [00:18:00] or not for you, whatever, but you still want it because of so many other things in your life and how you've been brought up or whatever.
And then you're like, actually, no, you know what? That's not for me anymore. I want something different. And it's almost like a little grieving process to thinking that the thing you really wanted has shifted. And that's great. And it's also kind of strange. 

Léa: Yeah, it's like, not giving up, but it's like, something about your identity that you have to be okay to let go.

Seeta: Almost. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. And I think, you said those words and that idea of giving up. And I think that's something that, you know, for someone like me, it does play on my mind. Is it, have I given up on this because I couldn't get it? Or it wasn't good enough? Or is it that I genuinely am, like, have gone in the direction that I have, because deep down, you know, that's where it's taken me and what I've wanted to do, and I've made it happen.

Léa: Any massive creative or artistic fuck up, [00:19:00] something you made, a project you were a part of, a task you responded to, something you did and you were like, or now you're like…that was so bad. 

Seeta: No, like I said, I have a great deal of room in my brain for whatever needs to happen happens, especially during the creative process if you go down the wrong avenue for a bit. And you know, I'm very instinctual, especially when I make in as much as I just sort of it's just right when it's right. I don't mess with it then. Um, just for the sake of it or whatever. And if it's not right, I really just know it's not right for me. Mm. Yeah. There's no absolutism in that. It's a very personal thing.
And so no, I don't feel that there's been a massive fuck up or a massive like thing that, you know, kind of, I think the biggest things like that end up being allowing myself to be [00:20:00] drawn in and manipulated by people who don't really care for me under the guise of something else. I think that vulnerability, it can be a double edged sword. So it's both a fuck up sometimes because you let yourself go there, but at other times that vulnerability allows you to make the best you can make of everything. So I don't like to call it a fuck up because it serves its purpose. 

Léa: You mentioned you're tripping, um, at Southbank Centre, on the stage of Southbank Centre, but figuratively and concretely, any faux pas on stage, a fall, a mistake, a blank, as a dancer, as a maker?

Seeta: Oh, I'm sure I've forgotten things on stage at times. Often this happens to me in my anxiety dreams. And so I get out of my system in those places, in my subconscious, um, where I forget the choreography, or I, I don't know what. Um. Again, I genuinely, and it's not because I'm brilliant or perfect or anything, [00:21:00] I, you know, mistakes on stage happen. What can you do? You know, sound doesn't come on, lights don't come on, you fall over, you forget your moves, you forget your words. I mean, I tend to be the sort of person that overprepares, so I make sure that I know something really well so that I can be free. Uh, so, yeah, I'm often very well prepared. Which takes off that kind of, you know, but it also means that if things outside of my control technically or otherwise, costume, whatever, that I can hopefully know how to bring it back and not get too flustered.

Yeah. I think the beating up of myself happens after thinking I could have done this better rather than at that moment when it happens. Yeah. 

Léa: What do you think is the space for failure in the creative process? 

Seeta: I think in the creative process, it's you know, it's [00:22:00] different and different when you're with different people. It really is about the people who are in the room with you at any given point. And if you're in the room by yourself, again, it's like there's multiples of you because you're not just making on you. You're also, you're not just the dancer, you're the creator. So I feel like when, I feel like I've noticed a shift in our, in our sort of sector and just more broadly that there's more care in spaces.
Um, we now have the language to call out abusive practices and gaslighting and other things. It's not always safe to bring these things up, but I definitely have felt a tangible shift in the, in, in the sort of wider context of creative spaces. Um, but I do think we're still at an early part of [00:23:00] that shift in as much as sometimes, you know, people are clumsy.

Sometimes people want to resist change. And those sorts of things. I think in terms of my very specific field of Bharatanatyam, it comes with its own challenges because I'm often working with a range of ages, a range of experiences, professional experience I mean specifically, and a range of countries. So people coming from a lot of different countries and therefore different you know, backgrounds and experiences because of that and cultural differences.

Um, and so not only having to deal with the fact that, you know, there are people who have, who take issue with a woman leading a room, a woman of colour leading a room. Um, You know, it can manifest in so many different ways, like, you know, feeling [00:24:00] like my way. I'm very straightforward. I'm honest about that. I'm not all warm and fuzzy all the time, but I pride myself on not being abusive and not body shaming and, and respecting, you know, people's pronouns and those things that I'm still learning how to do as best I can. But it doesn't mean that my manner always suits people. And I think what tends to happen then is that is that the, the issue that they might take with my leadership manifests in other things, which are really unfair because it's not like those things would be a problem if a man did it.

And I've been in rooms where people have been, men have been very rude and nobody says anything. Yet when someone like me shows any sort of authority, asking people to come on time or whatever that might be, I get insolence and rudeness. And then we have language now, which can be manipulated [00:25:00] to turn into all sorts of things.
And so, you know, it's, it's stressful because I'm working in a relatively nascent part of the sector. We're working at a particular level of professionalism and the expectation that on both sides of that comes with. isn't always met. And so, yeah, I think, I think there are still things I'm absolutely learning.

There are faux pas that happen in creative spaces. I'm very aware of things that are just really off key when it still feels racist, or it feels misogynistic. And I'm like, okay, and I try and use my, where I am in my career. Because I'm not green and new and I have the stability of something like the NPO, which on many levels, one of the things it helped on so many levels, but one of the things it's let me say, you know what, I'm going to walk away from this [00:26:00] offer or this opportunity because Actually, I think it's not within my value system.

I, you know, I'm very clear around paying fairly and, and those sorts of things. So if someone's offering me a job and they're not going to pay the dancers fairly, I'll be like, I'm not really okay with this. I voice it knowing that I might be burning bridges. I'm like, you know what, for the first time in my life, this is how I wish to use my privilege, of this stability, of this place in my career.

I know that it doesn't always, you know, we're all, it's, it's scary, it's frightening. And it's not something I expect young people to do all the time, and when they do, because, you know, So many young people have so much more agency now. Um, I'm so impressed because it's not something I, you know, that you do when you think, Oh, you'll be blacklisted.

You won't get this work. You won't get this opportunity. You'll be quietly sidelined. But actually, you know, I know that my values are, and my moral compass [00:27:00] is very sound. And now if I use my privilege for anything, I don't sit at one end or the other end of the spectrum of privilege, but I do know where I have it and where I don't.
And I'm trying to use it in a way that is going to change things. 

Léa: Wonderful. Yeah, very inspiring. Do you think a creative process is a success anyway? 

Seeta: Yes, absolutely. I think again, I, I'm very preoccupied with this idea of privilege, and I don't have very much of it in terms of my growing up, but I have more than many others.
Like I said, I know very much I'm in, in the middle of the spectrum somewhere, maybe not in the middle, maybe sort of at one end in the, because I'm a woman of colour in, in a doing it art form that's not from this place. And I actually am not from a wealthy background at all. So I haven't got that sort of cultural capital that tends to help.[00:28:00] 
Um, and so I greatly appreciate even having the opportunity to be making work. Yeah, I 
feel the privilege of being able to be able to make work. And I think everybody that can do that is in a very lucky place. So whatever we do is a success. It's a success, a step in the right direction. It's championing something that, you know, I hope most of us believe in, which is that the arts are really important for society.
Um, yes, I think sometimes maybe people have, um, how do I put this? I think maybe sometimes people take for granted that privilege. I don't think I do. Everything is hard fought for and hard won. It's not just been landed on my plate. And [00:29:00] so I do think, yes, I'm in the studio. This is really great, even if though I'm terrified and I don't know what to make and it's like a look, you know, sometimes it's terrifying and all of those things.

Ultimately, it is a success that I've been able to get to this place and be in a studio, make sure people I'm working with are paid, make sure I am paid. That's a success. 

Léa: Let’s move on to a part that I really love about this conversation. It's about feedback. 

Seeta: Oh, God. 

Léa: If you're okay to share it, what's the worst thing someone's ever said to you about your work? Or your performance?

Seeta: Oh, God. I think, I don't know if it's the worst, but it does stick in my mind. Um, earlier in my career, I made, I made a project and someone, an Asian man said, uh, that, uh, I would only be able to get this work on stage that like I [00:30:00] have because I'm brown. If I was white, I wouldn't have been able, the work wouldn't have like stood on any legs. I was like… 

Léa: Did you say anything back? 

Seeta: No, I don't know. I mean, I was 25. What do I, I didn't, I wasn't even very political back at 25. I was just trying to make a life. Um, Uh, I've been asked, will I play the brown card? And I know that's not about creative work specifically, but it's all kind of connected. To which I said, I don't even know what I said, I didn't say anything.
But now I know, it's like, what a ridiculous question. I've been told my work's not Indian enough. And I'm like, by a white person, programming a festival. 

Léa: And did you, when was that? Were you able to say something? 

Seeta: In my late 20s? I didn't, but I've spoken about it. I don't name names, but I have spoken about the fact that, that I'm asked to do things or not [00:31:00] asked to do things, but. People approach me for various things or whatever and either I'm not Indian enough, but then if I do the thing that's actually like my classical work, it's too Indian. And so it's like, well, I don't know what you mean and how can you say what's Indian enough? Is it so superficial that you reduce Indianness to a bindi on your forehead and a few hand gestures? You know, I, I know my form is more than that. So, Say what you mean, say that you want to see particular aspects of this art form. I can do that for you, but then commission me to do that. Don't tell me a work that I've already made is not something enough. 

Léa: That's mental. 

Seeta: Oh, I've heard it. I've heard it all, honestly. I can't even begin to tell you how many things, but sometimes I, I'm compelled and I write things. I've got a few blog pieces on my website, which you can see. 

Léa: Ah, yeah. I'll check that…But what's the best one? What's the best feedback someone's ever said to you about your work or about one of your performance, your [00:32:00] performing?

Seeta: I don't know, I get lots of really lovely things being, like people write to me and just saying it's, you know, Rite Spring, even just recently, somebody like a 70 year old man, white man wrote to me on some social media platform, just saying that, you know, he's not into dance. He's not really into those sorts of things, but he had tears in his eyes. I mean, I get, I get people writing to me with things like that. And I mean, it's amazing. 

Léa: Do you have like, I don't know, like a most inspiring quote or advice you keep close to your heart and something that might help you keep going? You might repeat to yourself to help you keep going. 

Seeta: I don't know. I'm not really that sort of person. Sometimes I like, you know, will read those quotes on, on Facebook or Instagram or whatever, and I'll be like, okay, okay, but nothing ever really sticks in my head. But in terms of advice, I find myself saying this quite a lot. And it's not inspirational. It's probably coming from a more practical place, which [00:33:00] is just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Léa: That’s a good one. 

Seeta: Yeah, whether you're in the creative space, you know, just because you can do a head flip, it doesn't mean you should totally has to be right for the thing. Yeah, you know, yeah. Um, yeah, that that bit of advice. I don't even know if it was advice. It just was like, yes, this, this makes sense to me.

Léa: It does. Yeah, on many levels, actually!

Seeta: Right. And yeah, I guess now I think I would just say. You know, we should be, we should be trying to thrive and not just survive. And we should be encouraging that, because I think the idea of resilience has been encouraged so much and we use it as such a, like this beacon of like achievement and success. And I'm just like, actually, you know what? Resilience is just about surviving the difficult things. [00:34:00] I am so ready to be thriving. I'm tired of just being resilient. 

Léa: I completely agree with you. What would you say is your biggest learning experience as an artist? 

Seeta: Um, finding my tribe because they're not where I expect them to be or where people would expect them to be.
They're not in my family and they're not in my South Asian dance fraternity, which makes me very sad. Um, And so what's helped me is to have, and by, by my tribe, I don't mean people who are just yes-people, but people who I can really have like good conversations with creatively and feel inspired by and challenged by and thought provoked [00:35:00] by.
I think that's the biggest thing is to surround myself with those people and hold onto them when I can find them because they're not everywhere. 

Léa: Is there anything you want to add, um, before we jump to our quickfire questions? 

Seeta: No, I don't think so. I feel like I've talked, talked your ears off now. 

Léa: No, I love it. I could listen for hours! Right. Let's, let's move on to the quickfire questions then. Uh, you know, the, you know, the, the, the, the concept is like, I'm going to say a few things and then you have to sort of like reply as quickly as possible. And there's no right or wrong and you can change your mind and you can go back to one and it's fine.
All right. Process, product, or ideas? 

Seeta: Ideas. 

Léa: Instinct, intuition, or checked fact?

Seeta: Instinct and intuition not the same? 

Léa: Um, I think instinct is more a physical, [00:36:00] uh, sensation, understanding, and intuition is more of a, a felt knowledge. 

Seeta: Can I just say, I absolutely think all three of those things are vitally important because fact, checked facts are very important, but I'm also extremely intuitive and instinctual.

Léa: Reflection or impulse? 

Seeta: Reflection is healthier, but I'm very impulsive. 

Léa: Success or failure? 

Seeta: Neither. 

Léa: Stage or site specific? 

Seeta: Stage. 

Léa: Art, useless or useful? 

Seeta: Both, neither. 

Léa: Yeah. Pilates, yoga, or ballet?

Seeta: Uh, well I've got the most experience with yoga, but right now I'd say none, and it's resistance training. But ballet helped me from a back injury early in my [00:37:00] career, but right now it's all about strength and resistance training. 

Léa: When creating, music on or off? 

Seeta: Apparently off. 

Léa: If you weren't an artist, what job would you do?

Seeta: Uh, a panda nanny or a kitten, foster kitten person. 

Léa: Step on the right or step on the left? 

Seeta: Right. 

Léa: The right step or a mistake? 

Seeta: The right step. 

Léa: Nice. That's it. 

Seeta: I don't know what that one meant, that last one, but I was just like, okay. I don't like making mistakes. 

Léa: Yeah, that's great. That's, that's perfect. Thank you. Thank you so much, Seeta. Um, yeah, it's just so, so much food for thought. 

Seeta: And, um, yeah, thank you for chatting with me. And no, no worries. 

Léa: You're nominated for an Olivier award for the Rite of Spring. And just to say that, you know, we'll be thinking of you [00:38:00] this weekend and that it's amazing and it's an amazing achievement.

Seeta: Um, thank you. I'm, I'm so excited. I, like I said, I'm a bit of a dork about it all 

Léa: But you should, you should. It's amazing. Let's celebrate it. You know, I'll just cut off the, the, um, the recording and then we can say goodbye. I'm just going to say goodbye. Bye Seeta. 

Seeta: Bye!