| Around
the World with Nejla Yatkin by Sarah Kaufman, Washington Post
"Mosaic," as Nejla Y. Yatkin dubbed her program this weekend at Dance Place, was as finely detailed and skillfully assembled as the title implies. Each of the three works -- one by modern dance legend Jose Limon, two by Yatkin -- was a multilayered experience, and together they left a lasting impression of a woman with a distinctive voice in firm control of her art.
But as bold and thoughtful as her choreography is, her dancing is what first grabs your attention. Tall and slender, with a thick, swinging mane of black hair, Yatkin looks like no other dancer around. Yet what is most unusual is how well she uses her attention-getting proportions. Many tall dancers clench their upper back muscles with the effort of moving, but Yatkin shows no strain as she sweeps through space. This sense of skimming, gliding ease was most apparent in "Chaconne," a searching, austere solo the Mexican-born Limon created for himself in 1942. It has been performed by many dancers since (Mikhail Baryshnikov danced it just a few years ago). Yatkin worked with Sarah Stackhouse of the Jose Limon Dance Company in reinterpreting it for her elongated body, and the result was a dance with a new dynamic, reeling out and in with a large-scale force. Yatkin doesn't yet have the work under her skin, but what her performance lacked in assurance it made up for in visual clarity. Adding to the sense of grandeur was live accompaniment by violinist Nathan Bartley, performing the Bach piece from which the title is drawn. No element was overlooked in Yatkin's own works. Both "Journey to the One, a Tango" and "Dearriving" were rich creations of sharply stylized movement, music and eye-catching costumes (also designed by Yatkin). Her choreography is infused with sensuousness and warmth, with a full, decisive use of the arms, and a crisp playfulness in the ensemble sections for her seven excellent dancers. Her musical choices were especially wonderful. In "Journey," there was the obligatory Astor Piazolla composition (can any choreographer tango without him?) but also selections by musicians as diverse as Turkish singer Sezen Aksu and Cape Verde's Cesaria Evora, whose relaxed vocals brought to mind salt breezes and island calm. Yatkin's emphasis on live music, begun in "Chaconne," extended to "Dearriving," which was accompanied by the attentive jazz trio of Harold Anderson, Darryl Harper and Nantambu Milton Russ. The costumes were easy-moving and evocative. In "Journey," you could almost hear the swish of the dancers' soft chiffon dresses, which moved as beautifully as the women who wore them. Similarly, one of the most striking aspects of "Dearriving" was the way Yatkin employed lengths of fabric. At the beginning, she used her long, geometrically patterned skirt like a cloud into which she could almost disappear; it also billowed and surged around her like a wave. At a later point, the slow unwinding of her turban seemed a statement of freedom, like the wounded removing a bandage. Vivid, abstract video projection by Lenita Reeves enhanced the sense of flow and change in this work exploring the quest for identity. One drawback to Yatkin's abundant creativity is that at a certain point in each of her works it overpowers her. Both pieces could use tightening, particularly "Dearriving." Yatkin has a lot to say, but her statements would be more powerful with sharper focal points. Still, this relatively new arrival on the local scene is an artist to follow, a woman with deep reserves of feeling and experience and an invigorating, memorable way of expressing them. |