The Other Witch by Nejla Yatkin

The Other Witch Program

  The Other Witch is a solo dance performance featuring elements of contemporary dance, dance ritual, text, sound, and music. The dance solo is a haunting visual experience that alludes to the untamable aspects of Nature. The piece is inspired by and references Mary Wigman’s 1914 dance piece Hexentanz, but recreates itself anew. The Other Witch premiered as a virtual solo film in three segments in November 2020. This is the live premier of the Other Witch.

- This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council -
Nejla Yatkin creation was supported by a 2019 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Award.
This project has in part been supported by the Dance Presenting Series of Columbia College Chicago, with funding from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation to support the Chicago Artists Performance Platform.
Rehearsal space provided by The Ruth Page Dance Center and Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance

NEWS
“Exploring a rich movement tapestry of disembodied arms, legs and spine, Yatkin’s witch is at once human and arachnid, faceless, hatching, it would seem, from an egg of billowy fabric that serves simultaneously as set, prop and costume.

“The Other Witch” is a shadowy figure, always and foremost enigmatic and unpredictable, perhaps even dangerous. Who knows? Will she bite? Mask designer Anna Wooden’s black sequined mask is a full-skull helmet that conceals the witch’s human face in parts one and two and suggests a spider-like creature, while it is a distinctly human hand that emerges from the voluminous folds of fabric. Arms and hands unfold like independent animals, fingers groping, arms seeking prey almost plant-like entwining the space in the darkness. An eerie humming voice and percussion effects complement the undulation of isolated shoulders and torso, abstractions of spine. Is she laying eggs? Casting a spell? Seeking her prey? What is the mask and what does it conceal? Only in part three do we see the humanness of flowing hair and glimpses of a face, full body movement and an integration of forms coalescing into spinning, twirling, arching freedom and wholeness.

Yatkin, whose work delves deeply into the confluence of art and nature, created “The Other Witch” in part as a response to German expressionist dancer Mary Wigman’s solo 1935 work, “Hexentanz,” and in part as a statement of our times.”

– Lyn Colburn Shapiro
 

Preview: https://seechicagodance.com/review/other-witch-explores-socio-political-and-personal-parallels-between-two-modern-dance-phenoms

Review: https://seechicagodance.com/review/far-oz-nejla-yatkins-other-witch-enigmatic-seductress-transcends-time

Review: https://www.newcitystage.com/2020/11/24/critical-community-the-dance-center-of-columbia-colleges-dance-buffet-series-finds-collective-connection-in-quarantine/