Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
Florida and New York
USA Wynn Fellow, Dance

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar is a choreographer who founded the Urban Bush Women (UBW) in 1984. An ensemble of women dancers of the African Diaspora, UBW combines contemporary dance, music, and text with African and African American traditions “to bring the untold . . . histories and stories of disenfranchised people to light through dance.” The company is committed to community-based work, running a summer institute for young dancers at its home in Brooklyn. Zollar creates work for the company as well as other ensembles such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet Arizona, and Philadanco. For the past four years, Zollar and UBW have been collaborating with Jant-Bi, an all-male ensemble from Senegal.

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Portrait photo courtesy © Rick McCullough 2008
Les écailles de la mémoire (the scales of memory), a collaboration between Urban Bush Women and Compagnie Jant-Bi of Senegal, 2008; photo courtesy © Jon Nalon