Urban Bush Women, led by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, were born in New York in 1984. In these eight years, the Company has distinguished itself for the determination of its artistic propositions, centered on reflecting on the past and present meanings of African-American culture, interpreted with an expressive fierceness—distinctly feminine—with uncommon energy. Critic Jennifer Dunning defined Jawole Willa Jo Zollar as the "anthropologist of dance." Zollar, the third of six children born to a blues cabaret singer and a real estate agent, grew up in Kansas City, confronting the traditions and issues of her race from a young age.
She began studying dance with Joseph Stevenson, a student of Katherine Dunham, earning diplomas from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and Florida State University, where she later taught. In 1980, she moved to New York and studied with Dianne McIntyre in the group Sounds in Motion, beginning collaborations with avant-garde jazz composers like Craig Harris and Carl Riley, percussionists Edwina Lee Tyler and David Pleasant, and folk vocalist Tiye Giraud. Leaving Sounds in Motion in '84, Zollar shifted her career, founding Urban Bush Women. The group, composed entirely of African-American performers, immediately distinguished itself with multidisciplinary work integrating dance, song, spoken word, and music into impactful performances.
Black folk art, political statements on oppression, anti-racism, religion, and the traditions of a diasporic people form the basis of Urban Bush Women's creations, developed through improvisation. From '84 to the present, Urban Bush Women have been featured at major New York venues such as the Ethnic Folk Arts Centre, Clark Center for the Performing Arts, La MaMa E.T.C., The Kitchen, and the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Known across the United States, they have participated in renowned events including the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and Spoleto Festival U.S.A., earning numerous awards. They have also been invited to European festivals such as London's Dance Umbrella and Montpellier Danse.
Their repertoire includes around ten works: "Praie House" (1990), which highlights the alienation of artist Minnie Evans in rural Southern society; excerpts from "Heart" (1988), a multi-part composition evoking the emotionally stifling nocturnal city streets, addressing themes like homelessness ("Shelter") and emerging sexuality in young women ("Lipstick"); "I Don't Know, But I've Been Told, If You Keep on Dancin' You'll Never Grow Old" (1989), a tribute to those who keep the spirit of dance alive in public schools; "Bitter Tongue" (1997) from "Song of Lawino," inspired by Ugandan poet Okot p'Bitek's poem; "Girlfriends" and "Madness" from "Anarchy, Wild Women and Dinah" (1986); solos "Working for Free" (1985) and "Life Dance II... The Papess" also from "Heart"; and the latest "Life Dance III... Womb Wars," the fourth in a series representing Zollar's personal odyssey through images of spiritual tradition.
