Bringing Dance to the People: A Spotlight on 2023-2024 Artist-In-Residence Nadya Zeitlin

As the 2023-2024 Artist-in-Residence on the Atlanta Beltline, Nadya Zeitlin is passionate about making dance more accessible by bringing performances to public spaces where people are going about their daily routines.  

“Not everyone has opportunities to experience art on a regular basis,” Zeitlin explained. “If we bring art to them for free in public spaces where they already are, it brightens their lives a little bit.”

Accessibility is a driving force behind Zeitlin’s artistic mission. As a mom, she understands the barriers that can make enjoying art a luxury, like evening showtimes, needing babysitters, buying tickets, and finding parking. Her goal is to integrate dance seamlessly into the normal flow of Atlantans’ everyday lives.

With this Beltline residency, Zeitlin found the perfect canvas to pursue her passion for making dance accessible through site-specific works. “For me as a site-specific dance theater artist, the variety of landscapes and places on the Beltline are overwhelmingly exciting,” she shared. “How do you create dance under a bridge? Or around a bench? Or in a little forested area or on a field? All of these different environments spark my curiosity.”

For this residency, Zeitlin is exploring the theme of techniques for “adjusting to new homes” – something deeply personal having recently celebrated her 10th anniversary relocating from Kazakhstan to the United States. She likens this experience of adapting to new environments to “fitting into different sized boxes.” As she described it, sometimes you have to leave things behind to fit into a smaller space, while other times you need to grow to fill a larger container. She incorporates these concepts of folding and unfolding into the gestures and movements of her site-specific dance works. 

Collaboration with her dancers is key to Zeitlin’s creative process. She engages them in discussions, encouraging them to share their personal stories and connections to the themes. Together, they create gestures and movements that become the “words” and “sentences” of the dance. Zeitlin believes this approach makes the performance more authentic and meaningful, allowing the audience to feel the dancers’ intentions and thoughts.

Zeitlin’s rehearsals with her dancers take place every Thursday from 10am-12pm through the summer into early fall, and she welcomes everyone to stop by and watch their process. They will start at the Old Fourth Ward Tower Plaza and be there until mid-July, before most likely moving to another location.

Over the coming months, Atlantans can expect to encounter Zeitlin’s thought-provoking dance works at unexpected Beltline locations. “Some gestures talk to our subconscious on a deeper level than just beautiful dance moves,” Zeitlin noted. She hopes audiences will “feel something and maybe feel connected” to the performances. So next time you’re out on the Beltline, keep an eye out for these captivating dance pieces and take a moment to experience them.

To sign up for the August 18 workshop, click here.