Press Release
Sunday, March 8th, 2015FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3rd, 2015
Media contact: Nejla Yatkin
nejla@ny2dance.com
(202)210-8247
Celebrating 15 years as a solo artist, Nejla Y. Yatkin presents What Dreams May Come as well as a sneak preview of the upcoming documentary Where Women Don't Dance at Links Hall
Chicago, IL - In 2015, Berlin-born Turkish choreographer Nejla Y. Yatkin celebrates both her 5th year in Chicago and her 15th anniversary as a solo artist with a new solo world premiere at Links Hall entitled What Dreams May Come.
What Dreams May Come is an evening length multi media dance theatre piece choreographed and danced by Nejla Yatkin. The solo explores the intersection and connections between the personal and the public, between how we perceive ourselves and how we are perceived. After exploring large-scale group projects for the last 8 years, Nejla is going back to creating an intimate solo dance inspired by Turkish composers Ahmet Saygun and Kamran Ince, sound design by Craig Lee as well as Video Design by interactive multi media artist Enki Andrews. In this new solo Nejla Yatkin and Enki Andrews are experimenting with incorporating real-time and prerecorded video, projection body mapping designed by video artist Enki that will respond to the body on stage. In What Dreams May Come Nejla creates a dance narrative exploring the spaces between oppression, freedom, identity and anonymity by incorporating Contemporary movement practices with traditional Turkish dance elements. During the performances there will be a special sneak preview of the upcoming documentary Where Women Don't Dance by Nel Shelby. This film celebrates one womanâAAs strength and perseverance in her culture and career. Choreographer Nejla Y. Yatkin's pursuit of a career in dance risks ostracism from her family and is a defiant departure from cultural custom. It is an inspiring story that translates beyond the personal.àIn many ways, this documentary is a contribution to a more serious conversation about the ways women face restrictions in full expression near and far.
AAMs. Yatkin is a magician, telling tales and creating worlds with understated images. She is behind more than choreography. - New York Times
What: Nejla Y. Yatkin/NY2Dance in What Dreams May Come
When: April 3rd, 4th and 5th, 2015 at 7pm
Where: Links Hall, 3111 N. Western Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618
Phone: 773.281.0824
Tickets: $25- $20,
***To purchase tickets visit: http://linkshall.ticketfly.com/search/?q=what+dreams+may+come!***
The solo was made possible in part through support from the Turkish Cultural Foundation (www.TCF.org) in Washington, D.C., The Between the Seas Festival in New York, Old Town School of Folk Music residency in Chicago, 3Arts (www.3Arts.org). What Dreams May Come was developed in part during a residency at the Baryshnikov Art Center, New York, NY and awarded through the Princess Grace Foundation-USA Works in Progress residency program.
About NY2Dance
NY2Dance was formed in 2000 by dancer and choreographer Nejla Y. Yatkin in Washington, DC. NY2Dance is the vehicle for Ms. Yatkins vision to use dance in exploration of the human experience through movement. The companyAAs mission is to: 1) create works that reflect the complexity of human existence, that tap the essence of what is common within all humanity and to embrace spirituality as a guiding force, a point of communication as well as reflection; 2) to collaborate with other artists from various disciplines from around the world; and 3) to preserve the works of master choreographers. For more information please visit www.ny2dance.com
About Nejla Y. Yatkin
Choreographer and Dancer Nejla Yatkin is originally from Berlin, Germany with Turkish roots and residing in Chicago. She brings a luminous and transcultural perspective to her work. While her choreography is never literal it nevertheless remains evocative of searing themes that resonate in universal human experience. Her focus is regularly drawn to the role of memory and history in constructing identity, causing conflict, and the possibility of transforming cultural tension into deep, authentic moments of human connection.
Her recent dances have been inspired by stories of events of significant places in the world. Such was the case with: AAThe Berlin Wall Project or Oasis: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Middle East but Where Afraid To Dance, and Dancing with CitiesAA, a moving site-specific work that investigates urban sites. The success and power of AACitiesAA inspired Dancing Around The World, which beginning in April 2015 will be traveling to 20 cities throughout the world and returning to the US in 2016.
Since 2000, Ms Yatkin has been choreographing solo works inspired by great female choreographers. To date, she has choreographed five evening-length solo works that have toured nationally and internationally to critical claim. In addition she choreographs for her own project-based company NY2Dance and on other companies such as the Washington Ballet, River North Dance Chicago and the Modern American Dance Company among many others.
Since 2001, She has been the recipient of four Artist Fellowship Awards for her Excellence Choreography from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities and a three-time recipient of the Creative Performing Arts grant from the University of Maryland. Other awards include the Local Dance Commissioning Project by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, two Creation Funds and two performing Arts Residency tours from the National Performance Network.
For her past creations Ms. Yatkin has received five Metro D.C. Dance Awards, including two times the AAOutstanding Individual PerformanceAA, Best Scenic Design, Best Multi-Media PerformanceAA and AABest Overall Production.AA In 2005, she was named as one of Top 25 To Watch by Dance Magazine and was given the award for Outstanding Emerging ArtistAA by the D.C. Mayor'AAs Arts Award Committee. Since her Choreography Fellowship Award from the Princess Grace Foundation, she was also awarded a 2009 Special Project grant as well a Princess Grace Works in Process Award to be in
About Enki Andrews
Enki is a Multimedia Interactive artist experimenting with physical phenomena to discover how humanity views itself in light of our finite human perceptions and how expanding those reflections enhances our self awareness. An interdisciplinarian since college he studied Physics and Philosophy at Boston University while pursuing his art . Initially inspired by AAtechnology artists such as Eadweard Muybridge, Alfred Stieglitz, Chuck Close, and United Visual Artists; Enki began working as a photographer in 2000 then in 2010 started exploring video, time based photographic progressions and ÃÂ interactive media arts. His art pieces have been exhibited at New York Figment, Nuit Blanche New York (NBNY) and showcased in collaborative interactive works with Chris Jordan for the Flint Public Art Project (FPAP) and at Monitor Digital Festival. His photography has appeared in the Huffington Post and the Washington City Paper. His art can be viewed at Syncord.com.
Â
About Kamran Ince
The energy and rawness of Turkish and Balkan music, the spirituality of Byzantium and Ottoman music, the tradition of European art music and the extravert and popular qualities of the American psyche are the basis of Kamran Ince'AAs sound world. These ingredients happily breathe in cohesion as they spin the linear and vertical contrasts so essential to his works. Ince is Professor of Composition at University of Memphis and at MIAM, Istanbul Technical University. His prizes include the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lili Boulanger Prize, and the Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
About Nel Shelby
Nel Shelby owns and operates Nel Shelby Productions, which is deeply dedicated to the preservation and promotion of dance through documentation of live performances, fully edited marketing reels, documentaries and promotional films. She is also Festival Videographer at Jacob'AAs Pillow and serves as Resident Videographer at the Vail International Dance Festival. Her half-hour documentary on Vails festival,The Altitude of Dance, debuted on Rocky Mountain PBS in May 2013, and Folie a Deux,AA a short film created with Adam Barruch Dance was selected and screened at the Dance on Camera Festival in New York City and Dance Screen in San Francisco. Nel has a B.A. in dance, a B.S. in broadcast video. She often collaborates with her husband, dance photographer Christopher Duggan. www.nelshelby.com
