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Sensual Intellect at Play, by George Jackson Nejla Yatkin brings to the stage an exotic air, an erotic note and an artistic intellect that's stiletto sharp. Even in something so modern dance classical as Chaconne, the solo to Bach violin music that Jose Limón choreographed for himself in 1942, Yatkin's qualities were apparent. Surprisingly, they didn't seem impositions in this context but functioned in harmony with the human nobility and sense of duty to art that Limon likely wanted to convey. After all, back when Chaconne was new, Limón himself was an unusual import and, for a male, an exceptionally sensual figure on the American stage. When Baryshnikov danced this solo here a couple of seasons ago, one became aware of his superb precision, phrasing and dynamic but the only life traits were the nobility and duty. Baryshnikov's was a very pure embodiment of the Limón and, of course, he also had to deal with his own, quite different body -- short and compact. Yatkin's tall frame is closer to Limón's, yet I suspect that her performance was very much her own, even though she wasn't the first woman to have ventured onto this choreographic ground. I'd never seen her dance so fully as she did Saturday night. Almost all of her anatomy was brought into active, coordinated motion with only the mid-torso sometimes seeming restrained. In the solo's famous tilting pose, Yatkin leaned and stretched an awesome length. Throughout the piece, she engaged surrounding space, embracing it in her arms, furling it as she struck attitudes, brushing against it with confidence and perhaps even pleasure as she reached upward. Her long arms were softly strong. In the footwork section of the solo in which heels seemed to click and ones attention was drawn to what was happening at the ankles and toes, Yatkin seemed not to be cutting through space but gathering it in and folding it at ground level, executing this task as if she were arranging cloth at the base of an altar and doing it quickly, expertly without having to stoop and use her hands. Chaconne was a welcome surprise and I look forward to Yatkin hosting more choreographers from the past. |