<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Seeking Universal Truths in Hairstyles</B><P>JENNIFER DUNNING, NY Times<P>BECKET, Mass., Aug. 26 — Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and her Urban Bush Women company and collaborators do not mince words or moves. They dive into the lives they see around them and come up, in Ms. Zollar's best pieces, with some surprisingly universal truths. The cultural significance of black women's hair is the subject of Ms. Zollar's new "Hairstories," for instance. But like a stone thrown into water, the piece creates almost endlessly widening circles.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/28/arts/dance/28URBA.html target=_blank><B>More</B></a><p>[This message has been edited by Azlan (edited January 19, 2002).]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Beating Around The Bush<BR> The Urban Bush Women Parade Their Grace And Strength In A Performance Of Hair Stories<P>HARTFORD ADVOCATE STAFF<P>HARTFORD -- The Urban Bush Women, socially and politically conscious dance troupe, parade their grace and strength Jan. 19, 7:30 p.m. at Belding Theater in a performance of Hair Stories.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://www.ctnow.com/entertainment/stage/hc-adv-stage-0118.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Darts target=_blank>More</a>

I saw this company when I wqs in college. It was one of the best things that came to Rutgers the four years I was there. They danced with more honest emotion than most of the dancers I've seen before or since with few exceptions. If you get the chance GO SEE THEM.

I'd like to second LMC Tech's recommendation!<P>Urban Bush Women are extrmely active in terms of outreach work too and chances are if the compnay is coming to town you'll have the opportunity interact with them on some level. They usually participate in guest lectures, workshops/teaching etc. The women of the company are some of the most energetic, passionate and enthusiastic people I've ever met!

They taught a Master Class inconjuction with their performance, which somehow I had to miss, by friends told me it was a heck of a workout and made them move in ways they were not used to, which is always a good thing.

"One heck of a workout" is a good way to put it! They use a lot of exercises that borrow from African dance which are really aerobic and exhausting. I also used to study with a former company member and I remember thinking "wow, she is such a speed demon" because the classes were so fast paced! It was a real exercise in brain power, to remember things that quickly!

Saw them a few years ago at the Joyce. Was totally mesmerized by the energy.

From the San Jose Mercury News.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Performers tressed for success<BR>BY ANITA AMIRREZVANI<BR>Mercury News <P>It was one of those family dinners that's about a lot more than just the food. Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, the founder of the Brooklyn dance group Urban Bush Women, remembers getting together with an aunt in San Mateo while she was on tour. During the course of the evening, her aunt made it clear how she felt about Zollar's hairstyle. ``She would prefer for me not to have nappy hair,'' Zollar says.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><A HREF="http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/arts/docs/urban24.htm" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A>

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Good Hair, Bad Hair <P>Urban Bush Women dance around the tangled issue of women's hair</B><P>Julia Chiapella, Bay Area Metroactive<P>WE SHAPE IT, streak it, tease it, bleach it. We cut it for a new look. We primp, brood and agonize because hair, for better or worse, is subject to intense scrutiny. Everyone wants great hair.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/01.23.02/urbanbushwomen-0204.html target=_blank><B>More</B></a>

<P><BR><B>Let's talks about hair</B><BR>Dance troupe explores a deeply rooted slice of black culture.<BR>BY AUDRA D.S. BURCH for The Miami Herald<P><BR>Jawole Zollar discovered black hair in the moments, conversations and characters of her own life. In the hair chats that lingered beyond casual. In the dialogue about hair that suddenly, without notice, became windows into the worlds of politics and pop culture.<P>Because black hair doesn't just lie there. It doesn't just curl, wave or roll. It stands -- in many ways, stands up straight in the vortex of a society still framed by race and beauty. Because the crown is a natural extension of identity, a cultural label and limit.<P><A HREF="http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/2702603.htm" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

More about hair:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Hairstories combs for universal truths in black hairstyles<P>Jennifer Dunning, New York Times on South Florida Sun-Sentinel<P>Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and her Urban Bush Women do not mince words or moves. They dive into the lives they see around them and come up with some surprisingly universal truths. The cultural significance of black women's hair is the subject of Zollar's new Hairstories, for instance. But like a stone thrown into water, the piece creates almost endlessly widening circles.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/stage/sfl-hairstories-nytfeb21.story?coll=sfla%2Dentertainment%2Dstage target=_blank>More</a>

From the Chicago Sun Times:<P><B>Urban Bush Women in 'Shadow's Child'</B><P>June 24, 2002 <P>BY HEDY WEISS DANCE CRITIC <P><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>'Shadow's Child," the new hourlong dance-theater piece by the Brooklyn-based troupe Urban Bush Women is something of a mini-version of "The Lion King."<P>It may lack the grand scale and mega-budget qualities of that Broadway spectacle, and it certainly takes a far more female-oriented approach to its storytelling. But from its evocation of African village life, to its use of fantastical puppets harnessed to human bodies, and its gentle unspooling of a tale that leads a youthful character through painful but ultimately strength-infusing trials, it bears a definite resemblance to the larger work, even as it operates on its own distinctive terms.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR><A HREF="http://www.suntimes.com/output/weiss/cst-ftr-urban24.html" TARGET=_blank><B>MORE...</B></A><BR><p>[This message has been edited by Basheva (edited June 24, 2002).]

<BR>Valerie Gladstone writes in the NY Times:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>JAWOLE WILLA JO ZOLLAR, the artistic director of Urban Bush Women, loves telling stories through dance. Since establishing her New York company in 1984, she has choreographed more than 30 works that combine dance, song and spoken text: among her best known are "Batty Moves" (1995), "Girlfriends" (1996), "Hair Stories" (2001), and "Shelter" (1992).<P>"It's a tenet of postmodern dance that using stories is passé," she said recently. "It hasn't stopped me, though I've never felt comfortable going against the trend." <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/arts/dance/07GLAD.html" TARGET=_blank><B>Click for More</B></A>

Anna Kisselgoff writes in the NY Times:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Charm may be a devalued word, but it retains its most positive resonance when applied to "Shadow's Child," a joyful fable that the American modern-dance company Urban Bush Women has created in collaboration with the National Song and Dance Company of Mozambique.<P>With an appeal that surely reached children and adults alike at its New York premiere on Tuesday as part of Lincoln Center Festival 2002, "Shadow's Child" has a deceptive simplicity. Yet Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Urban Bush Women's director, has conceived and directed an experimental piece. Like much of her work, it draws on African sources within an American theatrical context.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/11/arts/dance/11SHAD.html" TARGET=_blank><B>Click for More</B></A>