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Jawole Willa Jo Zollar is the founder of the legendary ensemble Urban Bush Women. She is also a winner of the MacArthur Genius Award. I met Jawole at a Creative Change Retreat, an intersection of artists and activists that used to be held at the Sundance Resort, in Provo, Utah. One of my favorite gatherings to facilitate. I was immediately moved by Jawole's presence, and I could sense how she was tuning into a deeper energy in my facilitation. We started to get to know each other and quickly learned that not only do we share values and aspirations for a more embodied and generative approach to change. But we also share a powerful spiritual alignment. This allowed Jawole to trust me to do organizational development work with Urban Bush Women. An honor and an experience that I continue to relish. “Jawole is a choreographer and dance entrepreneur who has forged a style of dance-making and artistic leadership that tethers dance to cultural identity, civic engagement, community organizing, and imperatives of social justice… she has created a sustainable movement and organization that centers the perspectives of Black women.” I was thrilled that Jawole accepted my invitation to the podcast. Our conversation ranges from her early life, the cultural influences that define her work, her ongoing spiritual commitments and some of the latest work that is moving through her genius. Enjoy our conversation.
Happy Birthday to Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, André Eglevsky, Alicia Alonso, George Faison, and Paloma Herrera! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dawn-davis-loring/support
Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week's episode is home grown in a sense as I had the chance to chat with long-time friend and collaborator, Farai Malianga. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Farai's journey to the US found him at the University in Colorado in Boulder where our stories connect. He is a Videographer, Composer, and Musician who began his career in African Dance in Colorado with Leticia Williams' Harambee and Musical Director Judy “Fatu” Henderson. He later relocated to New York where he began studying dance and drum with pioneers Yousouf Koumbasa, Mbemba Bangoura and Ronald K. Brown. He has performed with creative Masters such as Chuck Davis in BAMs ‘Dance Africa', Reginald Yates and Heritage O.P. for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre's their 40th Anniversary season; with musicians such as Roy Ayers, Wunmi Olaiya,, Manchild Black, and Akua Allrich to name a few. He has also performed on and off broadway in the musical 'Fela!' and “Darker Faces of the Earth” directed by Trezana Beverley, respectively. As a videographer, most recent projects include editing the archival documentary for “Kumbuka” the longest active New Orleans-based West African Dance troupe. This fall he joins Florida State University as a tenure track Professor with a focus on music for dance and choreography. He will be teaching Rhythmic Analysis, Music for Choreography, and Digital Audio Recording while also providing music support for African, Dunham and Contemporary classes. We definitely have something to look forward to seeing Farai's work flourish on a whole new level in this role! Where to find Farai? On LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/farai-malianga-21b13351/) On Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/maliangafaraim/) On Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/farai.malianga) On Twitter (https://twitter.com/fmmalianga) On YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/PLFMM) What's Farai reading? Octavia E. Butler (https://www.octaviabutler.com) What's Farai listening to? Kendrick Lamar (https://oklama.com) J. Cole (https://www.dreamville.com) Pharoahe Monch (https://www.pharoahe.com) Other topics of interest: Regional Dance America (https://regionaldanceamerica.org) Ronald K. Brown (https://www.evidencedance.com) Scott Russel Sanders (https://www.scottrussellsanders.com/book_pages/dancing_in_dreamtime.html) Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (https://www.urbanbushwomen.org/the-founder) Beatrice Capote (http://www.beatricecapote.com) Onye P. Ozuzu (https://arts.ufl.edu/directory/profile/152957) Camille A. Brown (http://www.camilleabrown.org) Christal Brown (https://christalbrown.com) The Shift Network (https://theshiftnetwork.com) Amiri Baraka (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiri_Baraka) The Lay Out (https://www.instagram.com/thelayoutco/?hl=en) About LEAP Transmedia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9xLBQraiSc) Special Guest: Farai Malianga.
Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week's episode is home grown in a sense as I had the chance to chat with long-time friend and collaborator, Farai Malianga. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Farai's journey to the US found him at the University in Colorado in Boulder where our stories connect. He is a Videographer, Composer, and Musician who began his career in African Dance in Colorado with Leticia Williams' Harambee and Musical Director Judy “Fatu” Henderson. He later relocated to New York where he began studying dance and drum with pioneers Yousouf Koumbasa, Mbemba Bangoura and Ronald K. Brown. He has performed with creative Masters such as Chuck Davis in BAMs ‘Dance Africa', Reginald Yates and Heritage O.P. for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre's their 40th Anniversary season; with musicians such as Roy Ayers, Wunmi Olaiya,, Manchild Black, and Akua Allrich to name a few. He has also performed on and off broadway in the musical 'Fela!' and “Darker Faces of the Earth” directed by Trezana Beverley, respectively. As a videographer, most recent projects include editing the archival documentary for “Kumbuka” the longest active New Orleans-based West African Dance troupe. This fall he joins Florida State University as a tenure track Professor with a focus on music for dance and choreography. He will be teaching Rhythmic Analysis, Music for Choreography, and Digital Audio Recording while also providing music support for African, Dunham and Contemporary classes. We definitely have something to look forward to seeing Farai's work flourish on a whole new level in this role! Where to find Farai? On LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/farai-malianga-21b13351/) On Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/maliangafaraim/) On Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/farai.malianga) On Twitter (https://twitter.com/fmmalianga) On YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/PLFMM) What's Farai reading? Octavia E. Butler (https://www.octaviabutler.com) What's Farai listening to? Kendrick Lamar (https://oklama.com) J. Cole (https://www.dreamville.com) Pharoahe Monch (https://www.pharoahe.com) Other topics of interest: Regional Dance America (https://regionaldanceamerica.org) Ronald K. Brown (https://www.evidencedance.com) Scott Russel Sanders (https://www.scottrussellsanders.com/book_pages/dancing_in_dreamtime.html) Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (https://www.urbanbushwomen.org/the-founder) Beatrice Capote (http://www.beatricecapote.com) Onye P. Ozuzu (https://arts.ufl.edu/directory/profile/152957) Camille A. Brown (http://www.camilleabrown.org) Christal Brown (https://christalbrown.com) The Shift Network (https://theshiftnetwork.com) Amiri Baraka (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiri_Baraka) The Lay Out (https://www.instagram.com/thelayoutco/?hl=en) About LEAP Transmedia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9xLBQraiSc) Special Guest: Farai Malianga.
Ellen Chenoweth hosts this exploration into the work of influential dance artist Liz Lerman, including the voices of Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, James Frazier, and Pamela Tatge, as well as numerous passages in Lerman's own words.
I met Maia Claire Garrison through our work at The Joyce Theater in the Dance Education Program. She is the Owner & Creative Director of Reel. Dance. Music. With a musician father and dancer mother, the arts were embedded in her upbringing. Maia Claire started in childhood as a competitive gymnast, at age 10 she was discovered by The Big Apple Circus. For two years she studied circus arts and joined The Back Street Flyers' circus act, performing and touring as a child acrobat. She joined her first professional dance troupe as a teenager with Afro Danza. She's toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America working as a dancer, singer, actress, and with the critically acclaimed Urban Bush Women directed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Her company M'Zawa Danz was presented at a range of venues such as Aaron Davis Hall, Bennington College, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn Academy of Music, City Center, New York City College, Central Park Summer Stage, Celebrate Brooklyn, Connecticut College, Dance Space Project, Dance Theater Workshop, Florida State University, Jacob's Pillow, The Kitchen, The Knitting Factory, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Miami Dade College, The Miller Theater, New Jersey City University, New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), Playhouse 91, 651 Arts, Rutgers State University, Sarah Lawrence College, St. Stephen's School Rome, SUNY Potsdam University, Symphony Space, Syracuse University, Wave Hill and at The World Trade Center Plaza to name a few. Awarded three consecutive grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Maia Claire choreographed multi-disciplinary dance performances, wrote music and co-produced studio recordings often collaborating with her two siblings, ShapeShifter Lab owner/bassist Matthew Garrison, and distinguished Jazz vocalist Joy Garrison. Both widely respected and internationally acclaimed artists in their own right. Learn more about her work: www.maiaclaire.com www.athleticflowmethod.com iTunes This conversation took place in January 2021. Learn more about career planning for dance: https://www.emceemovement.com/.
This conversation with Shockwave is deep and very important to listen about the expectations that we have as humans in which we have the power to improve in society. In this episode you will learn about:Where your street dance movements come from.The importance of you knowing where styles originated.How you can improve society expectations by being yourself and not following the leader.How some trends become toxic instead of creating unity.How artists can create more money by working together to create a better financial industry. Favorite Quote: “The great thinker talks about ideas, the average thinker talks about events, the small thinker talks about people .” Shockwave has experience learning from freestyle popping legends and he is able to teach where those movements come from. About Shockwave:Shockwave is a Los Angeles born dancer who expresses through physical and spiritual energy with respect to tradition. He strives to instill belief in one’s self and unlock creativity while preserving the culture of art forms.Through foundation, perspective and vision, he looks to inspire others to feel what can’t be expressed through words and be more than what society dictates, for the new generation, and to those who dance for a lifetime. Follow Shockwave:Instagram Facebook Shockwave - Soul Levels (by Beatslaya) Text: ANNIVERSARY to (323) 524-9857 to view our WATCH PARTY for our 20th Anniversary Maxt Out Dance Competition online! Follow us:Learn more: Dance Your LifeLearn more: Maxt Out Dance CompetitionInstagram @maxtoutdanceMaxt Out on FacebookTikTok @maxtoutdanceSign-up for our FREE Maxt Out at Home Dance Classes!Follow Joanna:Learn more The Get Up GirlJoanna Vargas on InstagramJoanna Vargas on FacebookTikTok @joannavargasofficialOperation Underground Railroad – OURRescue.org
In part 2 of this several-part series, we explore how dancers and choreographers have embodied and confronted social constraints and constructs. Highlighing conversations between Pillow Scholar Maura Keefe and Carmen de Lavallade, Tere O'Connor and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, we discover personal, artistic, and political perspectives on age, culture and queerness.
She's the kind of dancer that will stop you in your tracks with her intensity, magnetic presence, and technical ease. Sheree Harper is a freelance performer, choreographer, teaching artist, and proud member of Actors' Equity Association. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in Dance from the University of Alabama and a Master's Degree in Dance from Florida State University. She has studied under artists such as Dwight Rhoden, Desmond Richardson, Suzanne Farrell, Gerri Houlihan, Cornelius Carter, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, to name a few. She served as an Ambassador for The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and danced with Jazz Roots Dance Company under Artistic Director Sue Samuels. She became an Equity dancer with the Walt Disney Company in Orlando, FL. During her time at Disney, she acquired a stunt double role for a lead actress in the ABC Television series remake of Charlie's Angels. She also became an inaugural member of ME Dance Company under the direction of Marshall Ellis. Most recently, she performed at The Black Music Honors alongside The Jacksons. She has taught dance in a range of settings including dance studios, public and performing arts schools, intensives/workshops, private lessons, churches, and collegiate programs. She has provided choreography for concert dance, liturgical dance, collegiate dance lines, plays, and show choirs. In this episode, Sheree shares her commitment to uplifting those around her through storytelling and movement with an emphasis on authenticity, honoring relationships, and being a forever student of her craft. Learn more about Sheree: https://www.alyshiasheree.com/
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar is the founding artistic director and chief visioning partner of Urban Bush Women, a performance ensemble dedicated to exploring the use of cultural expression as a catalyst for social change. Designated a Master of Choreography by the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center, she received the Bessies Lifetime Achievement Award and honorary degrees from both Tufts University and Rutgers University.
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar is the recipient of the 2017 Bessie for Lifetime Achievement. Thank you Jawole! Music by: Dorian Wallace www.dorianwallace.com This was an excerpt of "We Are Anonymous", movement 2 of Dorian Wallace's magnum opus "We Are Legion", about the hacktivist collective Anonymous, performed and recorded by Tenth Intervention.
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar recently sat with Carol Jenkins to discuss the Urban Bush Women dance company: their mission, how they use dance to bring forth social justice messages, and how they've been able to change the landscape of dance.
Urban Bush Women is a contemporary dance company that performs innovative and exciting works that bring untold stories to life! In their debut performance with the Virginia Arts Festival,UBW will present the world premiere of "Hair and Other Stories", an evening-length work that addresses matters of race, gender identity and economic inequality through the lens of physic al appearance, including the cultural significance of African American women's hair. On the next Another View we will meet members of the dance troupe, including founder and artistic director Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, and dancer Courtney Cook, and find out how they use real life stories from right here in Hampton Roads as part of their performance! Join us for Another View, Friday, April 21 at noon on 89.5 WHRV-FM or stream us live on this blog!
One-on-one conversations with Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun (Celebrating Elvin Jones) & Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founder of the Urban Bush Women dance company.
3.5 million Americans in Puerto Rico are in dire crisis. The island territory is mired in debt and facing imminent default. Media coverage has blamed the last twenty years - when tax breaks were rolled back and loans extended. But this week's guests say the root of Puerto Rico's problems go deeper than that - to US colonial rule. If colonialism's at least in part the culprit here, it's pretty ironic that the solutions on offer from Congress seem so colonial as well. This week, journalist Ed Morales and activist Charles Khan talk about the roots of the problem, and how a colonial approach to a colonial problem just might not do it. Later in the show, we visit with the Urban Bush Women at their Summer Leadership Institute, a training program for artists and organizers held every year in New Orleans. Founded in 1984 by choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Urban Bush Women seeks to bring the untold and under-told histories and stories of disenfranchised people to light through dance. All that and a few words from Laura on Yale University's outrageous aversion to paying taxes. Charles Khan is the Organizing Director at the Strong Economy For All Coalition, a Coalition of Labor Unions and Community groups fighting for economic equality, equal funding of public schools, and corporate accountability in New York State. He is also a leader of the HedgeClippers - an activist group taking on the Hedge Funds. Ed Morales is a journalist who has investigated New York City electoral politics, police brutality, street gangs, grassroots activists, and the Latino arts and music scene. He is also the author of "Living in Spanglish and The Latin Beat: From Rumba to Rock." He also co-directed a documentary called "Whose Barrio?" and is currently an adjunct professor at Columbia University's Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race.
This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! 1. From the archives August 29, 2014 show: Middle Passage walk, Theodore Rush, Fetch Cly, William Rhodes 2. Playwright Tanya Barfield joins us to talk about The Call (Feb. 20-Mar.12) at Theatre Rhinoceros in SF. http://www.therhino.org/buy.htm or 1- (800) 838-3006. 3. We close with a conversation with Emerging choreographer Wanjiru Kamuyu whose work is a part of Black Choreographer's Festival this weekend, Feb. 20 at Dance Mission. Her career began with its genesis in New York City. As a performer Kamuyu has worked with Jawole Willa Jo Zollar of Urban Bush Woman, Bill T. Jones (Broadway show FELA!), Molissa Fenley, Julie Taymor (Broadway show The Lion King (Paris, France)), Nathan Trice, Tania Isaac, Dean Moss, amongst others. Visit http://www.bcfhereandnow.com/ In 2007 Kamuyu located to Paris, France collaborating with directors Jérôme Savary (musical theater) and Hassan Kassi Kouyate (theater). In 2009, Kamuyu founded her dance company WKcollective. She continues to work between Europe and the US.
Mark Anthony Neal joins Jawole Willa Jo Zollar at the Reynolds Industries Theater to talk about her dance troupe, Urban Bush Women. Urban Bush Women celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The troupe spent two weeks in residency at Duke University this fall and will continue its tour through this summer. For more details: http://www.urbanbushwomen.org
Dancer-choreographer Gesel Mason--of the DC-area based Mason/Rhynes Productions and Gesel Mason Performance Projects--discusses her wide-ranging work on behalf of diverse artists and audiences, as well as her celebrated project--"No Boundaries"--featuring historic and contemporary dance by Black choreographers such as Donald McKayle, Bebe Miller, David Roussève and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Program notes--http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Guest info at http://www.mason-rhynes.org and http://www.gmasonprojects.com. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Acclaimed dancer-choreographer Nora Chipaumire--recipient of a 2007 New York Dance and Performance ("Bessie") Award--joins me to discuss her vision and mission as a Zimbabwe-born contemporary dance artist of Shona heritage. She previews her April 30-May 1 solo season at Dance Theater Workshop. BIO Nora Chipaumire was born in Mutare, Zimbabwe during the Chimurenga Chechipiri, or second war of liberation. A self-exiled artist now based in New York, she investigates the collaborative process within cultural, political, economic, and technological identities of African contemporary life. Her work is transnational, unafraid, and eager to burn cultural, creative, and geographic boundaries. She creates provocative and politically relevant multimedia dance work, illuminating the struggles of human identity in an increasingly borderless world. Her work is inspired by art from her native country such as shona sculpture and chimurenga music--art that results from the often violent convergence of rural, urban, African, non-African, cultural, economic, colonial, and technological ideas. A visionary African contemporary dance artist, her work speaks to the human condition with power, authority, and urgency. Nora Chipaumire is a recipient of a 2007 New York Dance and Performance (aka "Bessie") Award. She is also a Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC) 2007-08 Choreographic Fellow. She is a recipient of National Dance Project (NDP) Tour Support in 2007-08. She also received a Jerome Travel and Study Grant to participate in the JANT-BI Diaspora Project in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal in May and August 2007. Nora was honored with the Mariam McGlone Emerging Choreographer Award from Wesleyan University Center for the Arts on March 10, 2007. She is featured in the documentary "Movement (R)evolution" and is the subject of the documentary-in-progress, "Nora Chipaumire: A Physical Biography," directed by Alla Kovgan and David Hinton, supported by a 2007 EMPAC DANCE MOViES Commission. A graduate of the law school of the University of Zimbabwe, Chipaumire received her MA in Dance and MFA in Choreography and Performance from Mills College in Oakland, CA. She has shown her work widely and danced with a variety companies in the US and abroad. Most notably, she is a member of Jawole Willa Jo Zollar's world-renowned Urban Bush Women. UPCOMING EVENTS "Chimurenga" at Dance Theater Workshop, April 30-May 3 (7:30pm). Coffee and Pre-Show Talk, April 30 at 6:30, with Charmaine WaTalk, April 30, with Brian McCormick Student Matinee, May 2, at Noon LINK Dance Theater Workshop http://www.dancetheaterworkshop.org Urban Bush Women http://www.urbanbushwomen.org/ Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Acclaimed dancer-choreographer Nora Chipaumire--recipient of a 2007 New York Dance and Performance ("Bessie") Award--joins me to discuss her vision and mission as a Zimbabwe-born contemporary dance artist of Shona heritage. She previews her April 30-May 1 solo season at Dance Theater Workshop. BIO Nora Chipaumire was born in Mutare, Zimbabwe during the Chimurenga Chechipiri, or second war of liberation. A self-exiled artist now based in New York, she investigates the collaborative process within cultural, political, economic, and technological identities of African contemporary life. Her work is transnational, unafraid, and eager to burn cultural, creative, and geographic boundaries. She creates provocative and politically relevant multimedia dance work, illuminating the struggles of human identity in an increasingly borderless world. Her work is inspired by art from her native country such as shona sculpture and chimurenga music--art that results from the often violent convergence of rural, urban, African, non-African, cultural, economic, colonial, and technological ideas. A visionary African contemporary dance artist, her work speaks to the human condition with power, authority, and urgency. Nora Chipaumire is a recipient of a 2007 New York Dance and Performance (aka "Bessie") Award. She is also a Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC) 2007-08 Choreographic Fellow. She is a recipient of National Dance Project (NDP) Tour Support in 2007-08. She also received a Jerome Travel and Study Grant to participate in the JANT-BI Diaspora Project in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal in May and August 2007. Nora was honored with the Mariam McGlone Emerging Choreographer Award from Wesleyan University Center for the Arts on March 10, 2007. She is featured in the documentary "Movement (R)evolution" and is the subject of the documentary-in-progress, "Nora Chipaumire: A Physical Biography," directed by Alla Kovgan and David Hinton, supported by a 2007 EMPAC DANCE MOViES Commission. A graduate of the law school of the University of Zimbabwe, Chipaumire received her MA in Dance and MFA in Choreography and Performance from Mills College in Oakland, CA. She has shown her work widely and danced with a variety companies in the US and abroad. Most notably, she is a member of Jawole Willa Jo Zollar's world-renowned Urban Bush Women. UPCOMING EVENTS "Chimurenga" at Dance Theater Workshop, April 30-May 3 (7:30pm). Coffee and Pre-Show Talk, April 30 at 6:30, with Charmaine WaTalk, April 30, with Brian McCormick Student Matinee, May 2, at Noon LINK Dance Theater Workshop http://www.dancetheaterworkshop.org Urban Bush Women http://www.urbanbushwomen.org/ Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Artistic Director of UBW is interviewed by UBW dancer Nora Chipaumire on collaboration with JANT-BI “Scales of Memory” premiering in 2008.