The Spring Equinox marks a moment of balance, day and night in equal measure, inviting the body into readiness, renewal, and awakening. In this movement exploration  with Guggenheim Fellow Nejla Yatkin, dancers and movers are invited into a practice that moves beyond technique, toward listening, sensing, and embodied intelligence.

This workshop approaches the body as a living, responsive system rather than a technical instrument. Through guided improvisation, breath awareness, rhythmic exploration, and attention to natural movement patterns like spirals, waves, circles, and lines, dancers will investigate how movement emerges from timing, weight, and relationship to space.

Rather than focusing on codified form, the practice emphasizes presence, adaptability, and creative agency. Dancers will move between grounding and expansion, stillness and momentum, intuition and clarity, mirroring the equinox as a threshold between what has been and what is becoming.

The session will transition from subtle internal listening to dynamic, full-bodied movement and will close with an embodied ritual, offering a moment to integrate, honor the seasonal shift, and anchor intention through the body.

This workshop is an invitation to meet the season through the body and to dance at the threshold of balance and emergence.

Open to experienced dancers and movers.

Nejla Yatkin is an internationally acclaimed choreographer, dancer, and educator known for her evocative, cross-cultural approach to contemporary dance. A 2023 Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of the National Dance Project Award, Nejla blends European dance-theatre, somatic practices, and poetic storytelling to create transformative experiences on stage and in the studio.

Her work has been presented in over 30 countries, and she continues to tour solo projects such as Ouroboros and The Other Witch around the world. As a lifelong dancer, choreographer, movement artist and certified yoga teacher, she integrates breath, body awareness, and improvisation into her teaching.

Based in Chicago, Nejla teaches across the U.S. and abroad, offering workshops rooted in presence, nature, and embodiment. More information visit www.ny2dance.com