Date: October 5, 2009 (Monday)
Time: 6:00 P.M.
Place: Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center
Tickets: Free and open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis
Nejla Y. Yatkin returns to the Millennium Stage to present her new dance event, "Wallstories," from her Dancing with the Berlin Wall Project.
"Wallstories" celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. “Dancing with the Berlin Wall” reflects on what the Wall and its removal meant to the Western world in its broadest sense -- and how the Cold War constantly threatened to turn into a devastating atomic war.
Ms. Yatkin says:
In the mid eighties, as a teenager in Berlin, I personally felt the threat of imminent conflict. This concern was an ever-present issue in conversations, meetings and demonstrations. This concern was also physically manifest in the form of the Wall, which both separated as well as divided East and West. Initially, as a child, you were always aware of it as it demarcated freedom from autocracy. Later, one simply learned to navigate around it.Eventually, the Wall transformed from a symbol of oppression and division to a symbol of art and entertainment, from paintings to dance clubs. These simultaneously embody and trivialize the history somehow.
"Dancing with the Berlin Wall" acknowledges that physical and political boundaries play an important role in an individual as well as a collective’s life, from conventions that we live by to barriers that can isolate people and divide nations.
Previous performances:
Millennium Stage archives
Press releases:
Berlin Wall Project
Blogs:
Berlin Wall Project
Video:
Wallstories by Nejla Yatkin (03:04)
YouTube.com
more videos
Sponsors: D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, Goethe Institute New York, University of Notre Dame, Princess Grace Awards
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