Dance for what you believe in

How do you express your thoughts? Or communicate what is
important to you? How do you stand up for what you believe in?

Do you say it? Or write it down? Do you sing it from the
roof-top?

Perhaps, you dance it. 

Dance-maker and founding Artistic Director of Urban Bush
Women, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, continues to do just this- she uses art to
express her identity and to communicate social and political issues. What a
powerful and unique way to articulate the concerns of many. She is much like
choreographer Nora Chipaumire, known for her brave, transnational work that
investigates cultural, political, and economical identities of African
contemporary life.

These brave women have put their words into movement time and time again,
speaking through dance. As part of the U of M Dance Symposium around the Urban Bush Women
Performance, you can see their work on Friday, October 22, as the
University of Minnesota Dance Program students perform Walking with Pearl...Southern
Diaries, choreographed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and re-staged by Keisha
Turner and Laurie Taylor (members of Urban Bush Women) and Dark Swan
choreographed and re-staged by Nora Chipaumire.

Zollar choreographed Walking
With Pearl...Southern Diaries to honor the artistic legacy of Pearl Primus, a
dancer, choreographer, and teacher who created for Americans an awareness of
the riches of African and Caribbean culture. Zollar wanted to show how the
legacy is connected to her own artistry.

Dark Swan by Nora Chipaumire is an interpretation of
Michel Fokine's Dying Swan ballet
created for Ana Pavlova and Dambudzo Marechera's heroines in House of Hunger. This piece is Chipaumire's
singular comment on womanhood/priesthood.

For more choreography saturated with expression, attend the
Urban Bush Women performance at Ted Mann Concert Hall Sunday, Oct 24 and see
other works of Zollar's.

These performances will undoubtedly touch you, teach you,
and inspire you to express your thoughts, to communicate what you think is
important, and to stand up for what you believe in. And remember, you can say
it, you can write it down, you can sing it from the rooftop; you can even dance
it.

-Allyson TaubenheimMarketing Intern and U of M Student