Urban Bush Women

Description

Founded in 1984 by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, URBAN BUSH WOMEN is a performance ensemble dedicated to exploring the use of cultural expression as a catalyst for social change. Urban Bush Women weaves contemporary dance, music and text with the history, culture and spiritual traditions of African Americans and the African Diaspora, exploring the transformation of struggle and suffering into the bittersweet joy of survival. Dedicated to encouraging cultural activity as an inherent part of community life, UBW also engages in extensive community-based programming and in training young artists in the UBW technique, which gives equal weight to an artist's creative, cultural and aesthetic concerns. Urban Bush Women has been presented extensively in New York City and has toured throughout the United States and to Asia, Australia, Europe and South America. The Company has been commissioned by major presenters nationwide, and includes among its honors a 1992 New York Dance and Performance Award ("Bessie"); the 1994 Capezio Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance; and a 1998 Doris Duke Award for New Work from the American Dance Festival.