UMS Concert Program, March 11, 1994: Urban Bush Women --

Season: 115th
Concert: Forty-fifth
Power Center For The Performing Arts, Ann Arbor, Michigan

University Musical Society
and McKinley Associates, Inc.
Urban Bush Women
Artistic Director: Jawole Willa Jo Zollar Choreography: Jawole Willa Jo Zollar in collaboration with the Company
The Company
Terri Cousar Maia Claire Garrison
Christine King Treva Offutt
Beverley Prentice-Ryan Valerie Winborne Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
Percussionist: Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn
Friday Evening, March 11, 1994, at 8:00 Power Center for the Performing Arts, Ann Arbor, Michigan
The taking of photographs and use of recording devices is strictly prohibited. Lighting Director: Kristabelle Munson
Large print programs are available upon request from an usher.
Special thanks to the Urban Bush Women for their Philips Educational Presentation Wednesday evening.
This project is supported by Arts Midwest members and friends in partnership with Dance on Tour, the
National Endowment for the Arts, and the Michigan Council
for Arts and Cultural Affairs.
Presented with support from Public Radio WEMU.
Forty-fifth Concert of the 115th Season
23rd Annual Choice Series
PROGRAM
Nyabinghi Dreamtime
(work-in-progress)
Percussion score composed by Junior "Gabu" Wedderbum;
Vocal score composed and developed through improvisation by The Company;
based on and including traditional songs from the Revival, Kumina,
and Rastafarian cultures.
Performers: The Company Lighting Design: Kristabelle Munson
Nyabinghi Dreamtime is a work exploring the dynamics of spiritual states in relation to
the Nyabinghi rural Rastafarian tradition in Jamaica. Nyabinghi Dreamtime utilizes
traditional ceremonial music and chants. The movement, choreographed by
Jawole Zollar, based on traditional forms, explores breath rhythms and the
synchronicity of individuals in space.
Special thanks to The Suitcase Fund: A Project of Ideas and Means in Cross-Cultural
Artists Relations, an initiative created by Dance Theater Workshop with major funding
provided by The Rockefeller Foundation; and the Travel Grants Pilot, a joint project
of the National Endowment for the Arts and Arts International.
A heartfelt shout out to Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn and all the people in Jamaica
who shared their culture with us and a thank you to the ancestors for helping
us to see the connections.
Nyabinghi Dreamtime is made possible, in part, with the support of the Live Music For Dance Program of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust.
INTERMISSION A Dance . . . Batty Moves
(work-in-progress)
Music by Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn and The Company Performers: Maia Claire Garrison "Batty" is the Jamaican slang for "butt."
Girlfriends
Performers: Terri Cousar, Christine King, Treva Offutt, Valerie Winborne Girlfriends is an excerpt from Anarchy, Wild Women and Dinah, a full-evening work.
First performed in J986. O Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. All rights reserved.
Shelter
Music by Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn and The Company
Texts; "Between a Rock and a Hard Place at the Intersection of Reduced Resources and Reverberating Rage" by Hattie Gossett
"Belongo" by Laurie Carlos "Endangered Species" from various news sources
Performers: The Company Costume Design: Terri Cousar
Lighting Design: Meg Fox
"Shelter" is an excerpt from Heat. Hattie Gossett is the author of a collection of poems, Presenting . . . Sister NoBlues (Firebrand Books)
First performed in 1988. O Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. All rights reserved.
About The Artists
Urban Bush Women was established in 1984 by Artistic Director Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Using contemporary idioms and interdisciplinary forms, the company has created numerous dancetheater works rooted in the folklore and spiritual traditions of African-Americans. Through movement, live music, and the drama and wit of the spoken word, Urban Bush Women explores the struggle, growth, transformation, and survival of the human spirit and creates a powerful sense of community on stage that speaks to a broad audience. Urban Bush Women also seeks to foster cross-cultural exchange through educational seminars and workshops as well as developmental residencies.
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (JAA-WO-LAY), Artistic Director, was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri and was steeped from childhood in both sacred and secular aspects of popular Black culture. She began her dance training with Joseph Stevenson, a student of the legendary Katherine Dunham. She received a BA in Dance from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and an MFA in Dance from Florida State University where she subsequently taught. In 1980, she emigrated to New York City to study with Dianne Mclntyre at Sounds in Motion. Zollar has toured internationally and her work with Urban Bush Women has earned her three Choreographer's Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and another from the New York Foundation for the Arts. Shelter, created by Ms. Zollar in 1987, was recently set on the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and premiered in Kansas City in November 1992, and in New York at City Center in December. She received a 1992 New York Dance & Performance (aka BESSIE) award for her collective work from River Songs through Praise House.
Terri Cousar has been with the company since its inception in 1984Originally from Columbus, Ohio, she attended Ohio State University where she received a BFA in Dance. Her studies in New York include Afro-Haitian dance with Pat Hall-Smith and West African dance with Yousouff Kombassa.
Maia Claire Garrison began her performance career as an acrobat with the Big Apple Circus at the age of ten. Her family then moved to Rome, Italy. There she was given years of training and inspiration from her mother Roberta, who is also a dancer and choreographer. Maia has also presented her own choreography in Dance Theater Workshop's "Kuumba," curated by Janine Williams, as well as in the 1992 California festival "Black Choreographers Moving Toward the Twenty-First Century." She was last seen performing in collaboration with Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn in Aaron Davis Hall's "Rooted in Our Bones," curated by Donald Byrd. Maia graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1991.
Christine King joined the company in 1989. She is originally from Michigan and has been performing in New York City for the past ten years with a number of artists including Claire Porter, Trinket Monsod, Kaleidoscope Dancers, Amy Sue Rosen, and Black Pearl Dance Company. She has studied with Sara Sugihara, William Adair, Nancy Hutchins, and many other artists to whom she gives many thanks for their encouragement and love. She holds a B.A. in Dance and has studied singing with Diane Barclay, Artie Sheppard and others, and enjoys exploring many types of vocal utilizations.
Treva Offutt, a native Clevelander, is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, and hopes to combine visual and dance components in her career. She would like to thank many people for their support; above all her family and "The Women" for their love and encouragement; art critic Szymon Bojko for his eternal youth and cabaret soul; animator Amy Kravitz for her faith and vision; the people of Karamu and Jacob's Pillow for their patience and spirit; and to the memory of artistguru Mahler Ryder for his focus and strength.
Beverley Prentice-Ryan was bom and raised in Wales. She graduated from the Laban Centre (London) with a B.A. in Dance Theatre. Since arriving in New York in 1989, Prentice-Ryan has danced with Laura Schandelmeier, Reggie Wilson, Leslie Yancy, and Janine Williams. She presented her own work in a Black Woman's Choreography Showcase entitled Kuumba '91 at Dance Theater Workshop, and will be presented at Prowess DanceArts Center and Danspace. Prentice-Ryan is currently studying to become a personal fitness trainer.
Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn grew up drumming in Jamaica and started playing professionally at the age of 14. He began touring at an early age with the National Dance Theater Company of Jamaica throughout North and South America. He studied at the Folk Research Department of the Jamaican School of Music, and then founded the percussion-based band Dominion Percussion. Gabu has also recorded and toured with internationally recognized reggae artists in Jamaican and New York. He has lived in New York since 1984, where he formed Ancient Vibrations with a group of drummers, dancers, and singers. Most recently Gabu composed and recorded the musical score for "Shelter" for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Valerie Winborne "Otuasina" is a native of Virginia. She remained there until moving north to attend graduate school in New York. During and after completion of her M.A. in DanceMovement Therapy, Valerie danced with many choreographers, including Ron Brown, Johanna Boyce, David Rousseve, and Janine Williams while also creating her own work. She gives thanks to those who have taught her along the way, especially Marlies Yearby and her mentor Eija Celli. To dance with Urban Bush Women is a dream come true and she thanks her family, especially Wayne, and her friends for the unconditional support.
Kristabelle Munson, Lighting Designer, is from Manila, the Philippines. Ms. Munson has created lighting for dance, theater, television, and opera in the Americas and Europe. She is a graduate of SUNY at Purchase. Recent projects include Jennifer MullerThe Works at the Joyce Theater, Ron Brown and Evidence at Performance Space 122, and visual design for Threadwaxing Space featuring concerts by Fundamental and John Lurie. Krisabelle wishes to thank the Urban Bush Women for a fruitful season.
Urban Bush Women gratefully acknowledges the support of the American Festival New Work Fund, the Arts Forward Fund, AT&T Foundation, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Consolidated Edison, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Dancing in the Streets' OnSlTE, Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, the Greenwall Foundation, Jerome Foundation, the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, J.P. Morgan &Co. Incorporated, National Endowment for the Arts, Philip Morris Companies, Inc., The Rockefeller Foundation, Sara Lee Corporation, the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, the Emma A Sheafer Charitable Trust, and the Lila Acheson Wallace Theater Fund.
Urban Bush Women would also like to give speical thanks to Kenneth Fischer, Michael Kondziolka and the staff at University Musical Society.
Tonight's performance marks The Urban Bush Women's second UMS-sponsored presentation.
URBAN BUSH WOMEN STAFF
Managing Director: Rhoda Cerritelli
Administrative Assistant: Lyndonna Dublin
Administrative Director: Ain Gordon
Producing Director: Laurie Uprichard
Artistic Director: Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
Information about Urban Bush Women's activities may be obtained from:
Urban Bush Women, 225 Lafayette Street, 201, New York , NY 10012;
TEL (212) 343-0041; FAX (212) 343-2551.
Urban Bush Women appear by arrangement through IMG Artists, New York
Activities of the University Musical Society are supported by Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.
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