Date/Time
Date(s) - 08/30/2019
All Day
Location
Ford Theater
Categories
“… the Urban Bush Women are committed, triple-threat performers
who dance, sing, and act with a sometimes searing sense of truthfulness.”
—The New York Times
IGNITE @ the FORD!
Ford Theatres presents
Urban Bush Women:
Hair & Other Stories
Friday, August 30 at 8:00 pm Tickets on sale now at www.FordTheatres.org
July 19, 2019, Los Angeles, CA – Ford Theatres presents Urban Bush Women: Hair & Other Stories for one performance only, Friday August 30 at 8:00pm at the Ford Theatres.
Choreographed by Urban Bush Women Artistic Directors Chanon Judson-Johnson and Samantha Speis, in collaboration with the company, Hair & Other Stories, a radical reimagining of an earlier work (HairStories, 2001, originally conceived by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, UBW Founder and Chief Visioning Partner, and Elizabeth Herron), is an experience that blends dance-theatre with conversations that challenge existing American values and celebrate our choices around “who we be” and “how we do.”
Hair & Other Stories explores disquieting perceptions of beauty, identity and race, and what constitutes the freedom to rise to our Extra-ordinary Selves in extraordinary times. This is the urgent dialogue of the 21st Century.
Crafted from personal narratives from our communities, kitchens and living rooms, social media and YouTube, Hair & Other Stories creatively examines structural racism in our society, and celebrates the persevering narrative of the African Diaspora in America.
Featuring new music compositions by The Illustrious Blacks (Manchildblack and Monstah Black) with stage direction by Raelle Myrick-Hodges, dramaturgy by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, costume design by DeeDee Gomes, projection design by Nicholas Hussong, lighting design by Xavier Pierce, and sound design by Everett Asis Saunders. The Company: Chanon Judson, Courtney J. Cook, Du’Bois A’Keen, Samantha Speis, Stephanie Mas and Tendayi Kuumba (* on leave), , with guest performers Marjani Forté-Saunders and Kesha McKey
“We are honored to be able to bring Urban Bush Women back to the Ford Theatres in celebration of their 35th Anniversary,” said Ford Theatres Executive Director Olga Garay-English. “A piece such as Hair & Other Stories has the ability to make a deep and lasting impact on those who experience it. This meaningful work fits perfectly with the Ford’s vision of creating an avenue for the exchange of ideas
between artists and a vibrant engaged community.”
Lisa Traiger in DC Metro Theatre Arts said that Hair & Other Stories is “part church revival, part dance party, part therapeutic reckoning, part history lesson. Think of Hair & Other Stories as a permanent haircut or dye job for your intellect and soul.”
Andrea Perez in Michigan Daily said Hair & Other Stories is “Emotionally captivating” and Carmel Morgan in Critical Dance was “drawn to the vibrant performers … I enjoyed the heart and humor.”
ABOUT URBAN BUSH WOMEN
Founded in 1984 by choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Urban Bush Women (UBW) seeks to bring the untold and under told histories and stories of disenfranchised people to light through dance. They do this from a woman-centered perspective and as members of the African Diaspora community in order to create a more equitable balance of power in the dance world and beyond. As UBW celebrates its 35th Anniversary year, they continue to use dance as both the message and the medium to bring together diverse audiences through innovative choreography, community collaboration and artistic leadership development.
UBW’s 35th year brings exciting new changes: Chanon Judson-Johnson and Samantha Speis are the new co-artistic directors. In this capacity, they will lead the company’s touring arm while maintaining their roles as performers and directors of the UBW BOLD (Builders, Organizers and Leaders through Dance) program. UBW Founder, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, will continue in her role as chief visioning partner, providing overall direction for the organization and its programs including the Summer Leadership Institute and the Choreographic Center Initiative.
With the groundbreaking performance ensemble at its core, ongoing initiatives like the Summer Leadership Institute (SLI), BOLD and the Choreographic Center Initiative, UBW continues to affect the overall ecology of the arts by promoting artistic legacies; projecting the voices of the under heard and people of color; bringing attention to and addressing issues of equity in the dance field and throughout the United States; and by providing platforms and serving as a conduit for culturally and socially relevant experimental art makers.
Elizabeth Zimmer in the Village Voice said, “Urban Bush Women have interpreted the black experience with passion and focus for thirty years.”
Choreographer Liz Lerman said of UBW founder Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, “Using collective and personal narratives with dancing that’s both fierce and intimate, she’s influenced generations of artists. She’s made a refuge in the form of a company, a network and an institute for choreographers of color, and has raised her voice for all women in the field.”
Founder and Chief Visioning Partner Jawole Willa Jo Zollar in her own words:
“I don’t know, but I been told, if you keep on dancin’ you never grow old.
When I began Urban Bush Women in 1984, I envisioned a company founded on the energy, vitality and boldness of the African American community that I grew up in. I wanted a company that brought forth the vulnerability, sassiness and bodaciousness of the women I experienced growing up in Kansas City. My goal was to use those experiences as a vehicle for my choreographic voice. That was now more than 30 years ago. UBW has grown to be that and more. We have inspired many and left an indelible mark on the dance field. We have changed perceptions about body types and approaches to performance in both form and content. Driven by our passion for dance, we have shown how choreographers can address
socio-political issues in their work and involve whole communities in art making. The company I envisioned in the ‘80s can only exist as a community of engaged people committed to the connections we can forge through creating dance and creating community.”
This event is part of IGNITE @ the FORD!, a series comprised of world-renowned contemporary artists whose work is thought provoking and reflects the world in which we live. Proceeds from IGNITE @ the FORD! events benefit the Ford Theatre Foundation. Tickets are available online at FordTheatres.org and by phone (323) 461-3673. Ford Theatres is located at 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood, CA 90068.
ABOUT THE FORD THEATRES
At 1,200 seats, the Ford Theatres creates an intimate concert experience that is a favorite among Angelenos. Each season, the Ford hosts music, dance, theatre, film and family events reflective of the communities that comprise Los Angeles County. The Ford is owned by the County of Los Angeles and operated in partnership with the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Ford Theatre Foundation. Nestled in a canyon of a County regional park in the Cahuenga Pass, the Ford Theatres has a rich history dating back to 1920.
The 2019 Season at the Ford Theatres is made possible through the support of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Additional support provided by Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, along with ABC7; City National Bank; Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles; Discover Hollywood; Edison International; First 5 LA; Fusicology; Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman Charitable Foundation; The Garland Hotel; Heirloom LA; the Hilton Garden Inn; Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Community Foundation; The James Irvine Foundation; KCET/PBS SoCal; KCRW; LAArtsOnline.com; Metro; the Millennium Biltmore; Million Dollar Round Table; Motev; The National Endowment for the Arts; NBC Universal; The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation; Sidney Stern Memorial Trust; Univision; Whole Foods; and Yelp.com.
For Calendar Section
WHAT: Urban Bush Women: Hair & Other Stories
WHEN: Friday, August 30, 2019 at 8:00 pm
WHERE: Ford Theatres, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood, CA 90068; just off the 101 Hollywood Freeway, between Hollywood and Universal Studios in the Cahuenga Pass
PARKING: On site, stacked – $12 per vehicle. Carpool and save: three or more people per vehicle save $5 on parking. A FREE shuttle to the Ford services the Universal City/Studio City Metro Station lot at Lankershim Blvd. and Campo de Cahuenga. The Ford shuttle stops in the “kiss and ride” area and cycles every 20 minutes. Non-stacked parking is available off-site for only $8, with free shuttle service to the Ford, please check the website for details.
PRICES: $25, $35, $50
TICKETS: Online: FordTheatres.org
Phone: (323) 461-3673
Box Office Hours: Open noon – 5:00 pm, Tuesday – Saturday, for phone and window sales, and two hours before evening shows for walk-up sales and Will Call.
INFO: FordTheatres.org, Facebook.com/FordTheatres, Twitter.com/FordTheatres
MORE ABOUT UBW FOUNDER AND CHIEF VISIONING PARTNER JAWOLE WILLA JO ZOLLAR
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar trained with Joseph Stevenson, a student of the legendary Katherine Dunham. After earning her BA in dance from the University of Missouri at Kansas City, she received her MFA in dance from Florida State University. In 1980, Jawole moved to New York City to study with Dianne McIntyre at Sounds in Motion.
In 1984, Jawole founded Urban Bush Women (UBW) as a performance ensemble dedicated to exploring the use of cultural expression as a catalyst for social change. In addition to 34 works for UBW, she has created works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Philadanco, University of Maryland, Virginia Commonwealth University and others, and with collaborators including Compagnie Jant-Bi from Senegal and Nora Chipaumire. In 2006, Jawole received a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for her work as choreographer/creator of Walking With Pearl…Southern Diaries. Featured in the PBS documentary, Free to Dance, which chronicles the African-American influence on modern dance, Jawole was designated a Master of Choreography by the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center in 2005.
Her company has toured five continents and has performed at venues including Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and The Kennedy Center. UBW was selected as one of three US dance companies to inaugurate a cultural diplomacy program for the US Department of State in 2010. In 2011, Jawole choreographed visible with Chipaumire, a theatrical dance piece that explores immigration and migration. In 2012, Jawole was a featured artist in the film Restaging Shelter, produced and directed by Bruce Berryhill and Martha Curtis, and currently available to PBS stations.
Jawole developed a unique approach to enable artists to strengthen effective involvement in cultural organizing and civic engagement, which evolved into UBW’s acclaimed Summer Leadership Institute. She serves as director of the Institute, founder/visioning partner of UBW and currently holds the position of the Nancy Smith Fichter Professor of Dance and Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor at Florida State University.
A former board member of Dance/USA, Jawole received a 2008 United States Artists Wynn fellowship and a 2009 fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial. Still dancing, she recently toured in a sold-out national tour presented by 651 ARTS as a leading influential dancer/choreographer on a program that included her early mentor Dianne McIntyre, her collaborator Germaine Acogny, Carmen de Lavallade and Bebe Miller. As an artist whose work is geared towards building equity and diversity in the arts, Jawole received the 2013 Arthur L. Johnson Memorial Award by Sphinx Music at their inaugural conference on diversity in the arts. Also that year, Jawole received the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award and honorary degrees from Tufts University and Rutgers University. Most recently, Jawole received the 2015 Dance Magazine Award, 2016 Dance/USA Honor Award and the 2017 Bessie Lifetime Achievement Award.
ABOUT CHANON JUDSON-JOHNSON (co-Artistic Director of UBW)
Chanon Judson-Johnson joined the critically acclaimed Urban Bush Women in 2001. She has had the privilege of serving the company as rehearsal director, director for UB2 – Urban Bush Women’s performing apprentice ensemble, and now furthers her work with UBW as co-Artistic Director and co-Director of BOLD (Builders Organizers and Leaders through Dance).
Chanon is a recipient of the APAP Leadership Fellowship Cohort II and Director’s Lab Chicago Fellowship 2018. Additional credits include Taylor Mac’s 24-Hour Spectacular, A 24-Decade History of Popular Music; Cotton Club Parade (Warren Carlyle); Prophecy Dance Company (Kwame Ross); and the Tony Award-winning musical Fela! (Bill T. Jones). Her commercial credits include Victoria’s Secret Live, L’Oreal Live, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Apple Watch and the Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary Concert.
Chanon is an avid arts educator and has served as faculty with Urban Assembly of Music and Arts High School, Ailey Camp Kansas City MO (Site Director), Alvin Ailey Arts in Education, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts. Additionally, Chanon is the proud founder of Cumbe Center for Diasporic Arts’ Dance Drum and Imagination Camp for Children and Family Arts Movement LLC, offering creative movement and art making for children.
ABOUT SAMANTHA SPEIS (co-Artistic Director of UBW)
Speis is a movement improviser based in New York City and the mother of Aminata and Aicha. She has worked with Gesel Mason, The Dance Exchange, Jumatatu Poe, Deborah Hay (as part of Some Sweet Day curated by Ralph Lemon at MoMA), Marjani Forté-Saunders and Liz Lerman. Speis was the 2012 recipient of the Alvin Ailey New Directions Choreography Lab and recently was awarded a Bessie for Outstanding Performer. Her work has been featured at The Kennedy Center (Millennium Stage), Long Island University, BAAD, Joyce SoHo, Hollins University, Danspace Project, Dixon Place, Dance Place, and The Kelly Strayhorn Theater. Speis’ solo, The Way it Was, and Now, was commissioned by the Jerome Foundation to be performed at Danspace Project for the Parallels Platform Series, and was later invited to the Kaay Fecc Dance Festival in Dakar, Senegal. She has developed a movement and teaching practice that explores pelvic mobility as the root of powerful locomotion and as a point of connection to the stories, experiences and lineages that reside in each of us. She has been a guest artist and taught workshops throughout the United States, South America, Senegal, and Europe. Recent projects include Walking with ‘Trane co-choreographed with Jawole Willa Jo Zollar.
Tags: black hair, ford theater, hair, plays, plays in la, theater, urban bush women