"Colombia Dances, Too" by Dawn Lille, New York Times Journal

.........."Nejla Yatkin, the second soloist, with her long torso, limbs and black hair, was a fascinating study in evolving shapes and a true mixture of her Turkish background and German and American training. In one voluminous rise from floor to standing she made superb use of the long black tutu-like skirt she wore. A few days later she performed “Echoes of Hope” in the main theater. Inspired by the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, this impressive work to music by Sheila Chundra and Jurgen Knieper, had a stunning beginning, with Yatkin sitting stage center, her body wrapped in white and her bare rippling back facing the audience. Following Rilke’s concept of the child as a stream that becomes a river, a torrent, a sea, this full evening work showed the child in pigtails creatively using a jump rope, as an adult at work and, finally as an old woman. Choreographically Yatkin used the entire stage as she created her luminous images, framed in dramatic clarity and passion.".....

 

<<Back to Reviews>>