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Urban Bush Women on Broadway?
Granted, you won’t find many Broadway shows —nor dance performances, for that matter— that begin with a quote from revolutionary visionary Franz Fanon. Here though, after looking at a blown up black and white polaroid of a handsome African-American couple dressed to the nines, we see this projection—
“…'Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.’
Following this, there is an ocean. An oversized projection on the back wall lets us feel the ocean’s lack of limits. This ocean, was the setting of 73 year-old Urban Bush Women founder and choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s life-changing dream. It was a dream that powered her journey to this, her finale work, Scat!…The Complex Lives of Al & Dot Zollar.
Spiced with myth and exaggerations to tell the tale the way any family story is told, Zollar’s from whence I came story digs deep and wide. We are immersed in a swank bar, bubbling with jazz—- song, scat, dance. Through the cracks in the glamour the family stories of dreams deferred peeks in.
The first peek brings us into the Great Migration.
While we learn that Al & Dot never shared the precise details of exactly how they traveled, now their daughter Jawole Willa Jo shows us what it was—for many, it was a slog.
The dancers run in place and get nowhere.
Then they are in the somewhere of Kansas City, Missouri where jazz lives and thrives. Here, dreamer and schemer Al is always making hay. One day though, the white powers-that-be took him on to cut him back. That is when The Descent takes over— as one of the many chapters in this story is named and projected on the back wall.
“..Feel the beat, you move your feet…” and the ensemble is uptempo merry, with choreography we learn in the program notes is infused with classic jazz dance moves like the Susie Q and the Shorty George.
In a niteclub lighting, a dancer moves forward to sing a bluesy song, while another in the shadows moves legs high up and round a chair, emoting the soulful music with dance.
A quartet of singers come in and out of solos.
The musicians in the background and then foreground are ever present—- Zollar’s choreography and their music are one. The music is equal partner to the dance. It’s scat coloratura that feels, just like the choreography, a straighter line to the soul of the songs.
With chairs slapping open and shut as they move, we re-live a fight to the finish between Al and Dot, amazed at how Zollar’s choreography tells us more about barricades when you are at war than any words could possibly do. Moments like this accumulate. We are simply dazzled.
If you’ve ever lilted out of a Broadway musical performance with your spirits soaring from the brilliant marriage of story, song and dance, the experience of Scat! will not be unfamiliar to you.
American Dance Festival Award to Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
Scat!…The Complex Lives of Al & Dot Zollar is more than Zollar’s family history. It is the history of slavery and racism’s legacy told by a master choreographer and fellow music and dance talents. It is also, dance history. After the first evening of this performance, Zollar was presented with a $50,000 Lifetime Achievement in Choreography Award from the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival.
She enters the choreographers’ pantheon with greats like Merce Cunningham, Alvin Ailey, Bill T. Jones, Ohad Naharin, Lucinda Childs and more.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Visit the Urban Bush Women website for more information on upcoming performances.
SCAT!... The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar
Conceived and Directed Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
Original Music Composed by Craig Harris
Co-Choreographed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Vincent Thomas in collaboration with the company
Dramaturgy by Talvin Wilks
Performers
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (Co-Choreographer/Writer/Director)
Courtney J. Cook (Associate Artistic Director)
Kentoria Earl (Company Member)
Keola Jones (Company Member)
Symara Sarai (Company Member)
Mikaila Ware (Company Member)
Tendayi Kuumba (Dance Captain)
Stephanie Battle
Musicians
Brandon Bain (Vocals)
Jordyn Davis (Music Director, Bass)
Damon DueWhite (Drums)
TW Sample (Keyboard)
Milton Suggs (Vocals)
Brianna Thomas (Vocals)
Charenee Wade (Vocals)
Projections Designer - Brittany Bland
Photos by Baranova, courtesy of Urban Bush Women
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About the Author: Amy Munice
Amy Munice is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of Picture This Post. She covers books, dance, film, theater, music, museums and travel. Prior to founding Picture This Post, Amy was a freelance writer and global PR specialist for decades—writing and ghostwriting thousands of articles and promotional communications on a wide range of technical and not-so-technical topics.
