Ouroboros by Nejla Yatkin

March 8th-10th, 2024 at 7:00pm

The March 10th performance of Ouroboros will have ASL interpretation.

ARTIST’S NOTE:

Every time we come together in a circle, we heal the sacred thread of the feminine. For millennia, feminine power, expression and wisdom have been suppressed, dismissed and disrespected. I feel every time we honor our body, express our wisdom, share our voice and connect with our sensuality, we heal the sacred thread of the feminine. This piece also is a way to reclaim the original power of dance, which is intimately connected to nature. We humans evolved through moving in, observing, mirroring and imitating nature to understand ourselves and the world around us. - Nejla

ARTISTIC, PRODUCTION, AND COLLABORATOR TEAM

Director, Choreographer and Writer Nejla Yatkin

Dramaturg Joanna Furnans

Composer and Musician Shamou

Costume Design Katrin Schnabl

Scenic Design Delena Bradley

Technical Director Giau Truong

Lighting Design Ale Favila

Video Design Enki Andrews

Sound Design Sathapat Sangsuwan

ASL Coach Susan Elizabeth Rangel

ASL interpreter (March 10th performance) Julikka La Che

SUPPORT FOR OUROBOROS

Preview performance supported by Links Hall Co-Commissioning Fellowship, Sybil Shearer Fellowship Award from the Morrison Shearer Foundation, Finalist Grant from the National Dance Project, DCASE Esteemed Artist Award.

The premiere of Ouroboros is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by MECA, Art2Action, Dance Complex and NPN. More information: www.npnweb.org.

The premier of Ouroboros is made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

ARTIST BIOS

Nejla Yatkin is a choreographer with a truly global perspective. She has made a name for herself with her dynamic and thought-provoking work. Hailing from the culturally rich and historically significant city of West Berlin, Nejla’s artistic vision is informed by her Turkish and Armenian heritage, as well as the nomadic traditions and poetics of her ancestors of interchanging places, races, rhythms, and histories. Described by The New York Times as a “magician, telling tales and creating worlds,” Nejla’s performances are a blend of personal histories and universal stories, weaving together the past and present in a way that is both deeply moving and incredibly imaginative. In addition to her work in traditional theater and dance settings, Nejla is also highly respected for her interdisciplinary approach to dance-making, which includes film, augmented reality, and more. No matter the form or the venue, Nejla’s work is always driven by a deep curiosity about the expressive power of movement and its ability to connect people across cultures and backgrounds. She has been recognized with numerous grants and awards, including Dance Magazine 25 To Watch, the Princess Grace Fellowship, the Baryshnikov Art Center residency fellowship, the John F. Kennedy Center Local Dance commission, 3Arts Award Foundation, the Chicago Dancemakers Forum, the Illinois Arts Council and the latest 2023 Guggenheim Fellowship. In all her endeavors, Nejla invites us to join her on a journey of exploration and discovery, inviting us to connect with one another and with the world around us through the universal language of dance. More please find at ny2dance.com.

Joanna Furnans (she/her), is a dance artist, writer, and administrator. Her work has been supported by a MANCC Forward Dialogues Laboratory, a Schonberg Offshore Creation Residency at the Yard, an Institutional Incubator Sponsorship at High Concept Labs, a Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Award, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), the Chicago Dancers’ Fund, the Chicago Moving Company, Links Hall, and the Walker Art Center’s Choreographer’s Evening. Joanna is a co-founder and co-organizer of Performance Response Journal, is the current executive director of Chicago Dancemakers Forum, and is the board treasurer of the artist-run Roman Susan Art Foundation NFP. She holds a certificate in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Organizations from Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies and a BA from Sarah Lawrence College with concentrations in Dance, Literature, and Philosophy. 

Shamou is Director of Music for Dance at UNC Charlotte. Shamou’s music career began in his native Iran where he also studied and performed with the Iranian National Ballet as a dancer. He began his formal music training in Tehran, studied with teachers from the Royal College of Music in London, and completed his training at Berklee College of Music in Boston, earning a Bachelors of Music Degree. He is known for his collaborative work with the world-renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Co., Mark Morris Dance Company, ODC/San Francisco, San Francisco Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, David Dorfman Dance, Boston Dance Collective and Prometheus Dance Company among others. As a composer he has created original scores for numerous Companies/Choreographers, including Claudia Lavista (Co-Artistic Director, Delfos Danza Contemporanea), FJK Dance, NY2 Dance, Sacramento Ballet, ODC Dance Jam, Prometheus Dance Company, Stephan Koplowitz, Robert Moses, Judith Smith/AXIS, and many others during residencies at the Bates Dance Festival. He has collaborated with emerging African choreographers during a choreographer’s workshop at Ecole des Sables, in Senegal. He has created scores for Christal Brown’s Liquid Strength training video project and Cathy Young’s Jazz Pedagogy project.

Katrin Schnabl is a designer, artist, and educator who works in the spaces between fashion, dance, performance, and installation. She creates sophisticated garments that move sensuously on the body as well as spatial installations that profoundly shift bodily relationships. Schnabl is drawn to dualities, including those of the viewer and wearer, inner and outer, and latent and manifest energy. Her approach is deeply influenced by her experience engaging with motion, sound, and energy while navigating space as a trained dancer. Schnabl’s designs have been shown at New York Fashion Week and featured in high-fashion magazine spreads around the world, including in the US, Saudi, and Spanish editions of Harper’s Bazaar, Madame Germany, Soma Magazine, Vestal Magazine, Fault Magazine, Kurv Magazine, Creem Magazine, Stylewylde, and Fashion Theory, among others. She has taken part in exhibitions at Evanston Art Center and DePaul Art Museum, and collaborated with Joffrey Ballet Chicago and Danceworks Chicago to create performance costumes.  Schnabl is also one of the faculty members who co-created SAIC’s Fashion, Body, and Garment graduate program in 2008. She is currently the Sage Endowed Chair of the Department of Fashion Design.

Delena Bradley is a costume and scenic designer currently based out of Chicago, IL. Recent credits include: scenic design for Fefu and Her Friends and Yerma at University of Illinois Chicago, assistant scenic designer for Describe The Night at Steppenwolf Theatre (Chicago) and Little Women at Seattle Rep, associate scenic designer for Clyde’s at TheaterWorks Hartford, scenic/costume design for Beto, Beto El Abeto and costume design for Estado Vegetal at Zilker Botanical Garden (Austin, TX), costume design for Seedfolks at Metro Theatre Ensemble (St. Louis), Much Ado About Nothing at Asolo Repertory Theatre/FSU (Sarasota), costume/scenic design for The Infinite Energy of Ada Lovelace with Third Eye Theatre Ensemble (Chicago), and production/costume design for Addict Named Hal, a feature film by Lane Stanley (Austin, TX). Delena received her M.F.A. from The University of Texas at Austin, and bachelor’s degree in theatre technology and design from Ball State University.

Susan Elizabeth Rangel has directed and coordinated ASL interpretations for theatrical productions for over ten years. As a Certified Deaf Interpreter, she has also interpreted in theaters and some of her favorites include Disgraced at Goodman, Jane in the Jungle at Merle Reskin Theatre, La Ruta at Steppenwolf, and Carmela Full of Wishes at Chicago Children’s Theatre. She was also a performer in the production of Deaf Sabor and coordinated interpretation for Youth and Young Adult V Encuentro. Outside of theaters, Susan Elizabeth provides ASL education, consultations, mentoring, text and video translations.

Giau Minh Truong (he/him) was born in Vietnam and lived in a refugee camp with his family for two years in Indonesia before arriving in the USA in 1982. Giau oversees Links Hall’s production and technical needs for artists and performances, maintains Studio A performance space, and does curatorial work focusing on developing use of tech in performance.

Ale Favila has designed lights for Links Hall for two years, working on dance, theatre, puppet shows, artist showcases, whatever comes through the space. If not at Links, she can be found around the city, working in other theaters, and expanding her technical knowledge. Ale enjoys the collaborative storytelling that live art brings, and is looking forward to bringing more visions to life.

Enki Andrews is a Chicago-based Multimedia Interactive artist experimenting with physical phenomena to discover how humanity views itself in light of our finite human perceptions and how expanding those reflections enhances our self awareness. An interdisciplinarian since college, he studied Physics and Philosophy at Boston University while pursuing his art. Initially inspired by “technology” artists such as Eadweard Muybridge, Alfred Stieglitz, Chuck Close, and United Visual Artists, Enki began working as a photographer in 2000 then in 2010 started exploring video, time-based photographic progressions and interactive media arts. His art pieces have been exhibited at New York Figment, Nuit Blanche New York (NBNY) and showcased in collaborative interactive works with Chris Jordan for the Flint Public Art Project (FPAP) and at Monitor Digital Festival. His photography has appeared in the Huffington Post and the Washington City Paper. His art can be viewed at syncord.com.

ABOUT LINKS HALL

For 45 years, Links Hall has played a pivotal role in Chicago, encouraging artistic innovation and public engagement by maintaining a facility and providing flexible programming for the research, development, and presentation of new work in the performing arts. Founded in 1978 by experimental choreographers, Bob Eisen, Carol Bobrow, and Charlie Vernon, Links became a National Performance Network partner in 1998 and received a MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions in 2016. Links Hall supports multidisciplinary artists through residencies, festivals, subsidized rentals, and other resources for performers at every stage of their career.

Links Hall programming is made possible by artists, audiences, and support from: Arts Midwest GIG Fund, Association of Performing Arts Professionals, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, Exelon, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Heather B. Henson Fund/Puppet Slam Network, Illinois Arts Council Agency, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, National Performance Network, The Charlie Vernon Performance Fund at the Evanston Community Foundation, The Jentes Family Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, MacArthur Fund for Culture, Equity, and the Arts at Prince, The Martha Struthers Farley & Donald C. Farley, Jr. Family Foundation, The Prince Charitable Trust, Robert R. McCormick Foundation, and The Weasel Fund.

STAFF

Aaliyah Christina, Artist Programs Manager & Associate Curator

Katie Collins, Marketing & Development Manager

SK Kerastas, Executive Director

Mario LaMothe, General Manager

Dana Pepowski, Programs Coordinator

Giau Truong, Production Manager & Associate Curator 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Amy Chavasse - Artistic Director, Chavasse Dance & Performance and Professor of Dance; the University of Michigan

Jane Beachy - Artistic Director, Illinois Humanities

Alex Benjamin - Director of Programs, Luminarts Cultural Foundation

Kim Davis - Founder and Principal, Five/6teen Consulting

Alyssa Gregory - Communications Manager, The University of Chicago and Marketing Associate; Associate Choreographer, The Fly Honey Show

Ross Stanton Jordan - Curatorial Manager, the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum

Trevor Martin -  Executive Director of Exhibitions and Exhibition Studies and Senior Lecturer in the Performance Department, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Dan Nichols - Former Associate Dean for Finance in Social Sciences and Associate Dean for Operations in Humanities, the University of Chicago

Jon Pagac - Executive Director, J.P.Morgan

Tina Post - Assistant Professor of English and Theater and Performance Studies and affiliate of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture at the University of Chicago

Doreen Sayegh - Producer/General Manager, Pemberley Productions and Board Vice President, the League of Chicago Theatres

Michael Tokoph - Associate Director, Product Strategy at Huge

Tara Aisha Willis, Ph.D. - Curator in Performance & Public Practice, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Patrick Zakem - Creative Producer, Steppenwolf Theatre Company

ADVISORY BOARD

Cheryl Lynn Bruce - Ensemble Member, Teatro Vista

Bob Eisen - Founder of Links Hall 

E. Aaron Greven - Owner, AG Design Works

Tracie D. Hall - Artist, Curator, & Librarian

Maggie Kast - Author, Founder Chicago Contemporary Dance Theatre

Meida McNeal - Senior Manager of Arts & Community Impact Investments, DCASE, and Artistic and Managing Director, Honey Pot Performance

Eva Silverman - Project Director, Art Design Chicago 

Claire Sutton - Former Director of Special Projects, Links Hall

Blair Thomas - Founder and Artistic Director, Chicago International Puppetry Festival 

Michael Zerang - Musician, Former Links Hall Director