“Thank you to Florida State University School of Dance, Bob Holman, Paloma McGregor, William Nadylam, Al & Pat Zollar, and all of my family for their generous love and support.”
—Jawole Zollar
Thank you DuBois Akeen, Amanda Castro, Stephanie Mas, Chanon Judson, and Mame Diarra Speis for their work in the development of SCAT!
Thank you to Tammy Bormann and Tahnia Belle for their long service and leadership to UBW.
Celebrating its 40th Anniversary, URBAN BUSH WOMEN (UBW) is a groundbreaking Black women-led theatrical dance company and social activism ensemble founded in 1984 by visionary choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Through its mission of engaging with artists, activists, audiences, and communities through performances, artist development, education, and community engagement, the award-winning nonprofit has performed throughout the United States, as well as Asia, Australia, Canada, Germany, South America, Europe, and Senegal (in collaboration with Germaine Acogny and her all-male Compagnie JANT-BI). UBW has been an engine and amplifier for the stories of Black Women+ for forty years. UBW affects 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 providing platforms and serving as a conduit for experimental art makers. Signature programs run by UBW include the Summer Leadership Institute (SLI), BOLD (Builders, Organizers & Leaders through Dance), the Choreographic Center Initiative (CCI), and the CCI Producing Program (CCI 2.0). Now directed by artistic leaders Chanon Judson and Mame Diarra Speis, UBW combines radical performance, deep engagement, and ancestral knowledge from the African diaspora into a force that is urgent, forward-looking, and essential.
SCAT!... The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar was commissioned by ADF with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works.
This program is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
