Project Artist:
Nejla Yatkin
Nejla Yatkin (Choreographer/Director)
Nejla Y. Yatkin is a 2009 Princess Grace Special Project recipient and a 2008 Princess Grace Choreography fellow, was named by Dance Magazine as one of "Top 25 to Watch in 2005" and "Outstanding Emerging Artist" by the D.C. Mayor's Arts Award Committee 2006. This award-winning and internationally acclaimed choreographer is originally from Berlin, Germany. Ms. Yatkin is currently commuting between New York and Washington, DC pursuing her solo career: dancing, choreographing and giving workshops at international and national festivals. Ms. Yatkin has performed her solo work in over 20 countries. She has been awarded numerous grants to create and perform from Arts International, the National Performance Network, Kennedy Center and the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. To date, Ms. Yatkin has received five awards from the Metro D.C. Dance Awards. Recently, she choreographed for Dallas Black Dance Theatre and Washington Ballet, the Darpana Performing Group in India as well as the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble. For the last 7 years she has also been a Professor of Dance at the University of Maryland. In July 2008, she started a new position as Artist in Residence for the Film, TV and Theatre Department of the University of Notre Dame.