Dancing with the Garden of the Phoenix by NY2Dance at Jackson Park
CHICAGO, July 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- After a year-long worldwide tour, German choreographer Nejla Y. Yatkin returns to Chicago and brings her signature process of building site-specific dances to Jackson Park.
Nejla Yatkin will choreograph a site-specific dance for the Garden of the Phoenix at Jackson Park with local dancers moving the audience through the Garden to transform our perceptions and engage with the park in a new way.
Similar to writer Milan Kundera, as a dance maker Nejla Y. Yatkin is going into a place and time, exposing it, exploring it, penetrating it and then transcending it through movement. For Dancing with the Garden of the Phoenix at Jackson Park, Yatkin will work with local community members to choreograph a one of a kind interactive site-specific dance. Yatkin will spend the summer in the Garden of the Phoenix observing, talking, dancing and documenting community members in a dialogue about transformation and what they wish to happen in their community. The time in the Garden and the exchanges with the community will inform and inspire the final dance. Free public performances will be held on September 14th, 15th and 17th, 2017 from 6pm to 7pm.
"Dancing with the Garden of the Phoenix" at Jackson Park is presented as part of the Chicago Park District's Night Out in the Parks series, supported by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Arts programming in neighborhoods across the city advances the goals of the Chicago Park District and the Chicago Cultural Plan. Now in its fifth year, the 2017 Night Out in the Parks series will host over 1,000 cultural events and programs at more than 250 neighborhood parks throughout the city, making community parks a safe haven and hubs of activity.
Where: The Garden of the Phoenix at Jackson Park
When: September 15th, 16th and 17th at 6pm to 7pm
What: Site specific dance performance choreographed by Nejla Y. Yatkin (www.ny2dance.com)
Media contact: Nejla Y. Yatkin at [email protected] and 202-210-8247
About Nejla Y. Yatkin
Choreographer and Dancer Nejla Y. Yatkin is originally from Berlin, Germany and residing in Chicago now. 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: "The Berlin Wall Project" or "Oasis: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Middle East but Where Afraid To Dance," and "Dancing with Cities," a moving site-specific work that investigates urban sites. The success and power of "Cities" inspired "Dancing Around The World," which began in April 2015 and traveled to 20 cities throughout the world and returned to the US in April 2016. For more visit NY2Dance.com.
Dancing Around The World is a year long dance project traveling literally around the globe. The project encourages and engages local communities in cities around the world by cultivating interdisciplinary arts and community through dance workshops and performances. The goal is to explore and make people become aware of the interaction of people, movement and the environment. Compelled by the mantra: Think globally. Act locally. Nejla Yatkin is traveling to communities in different international cities, and unite community members and leaders in an interdisciplinary art practice that uses dance and movement as a centerpiece to enrich the social-behavioral architectural interaction of people with their environment. This project is available to a global audience on Youtube.
SOURCE Nejla Yatkin
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