Urban Bush Women
Founded in 1984 by Jawole Willa Jo Zolar, Urban Bush Women (UBW) is a performance ensemble dedicated to exploring the use of cultural expression as a catalyst for social change. UBW weaves contemporary dance, music and text with the history, cultural and spiritual traditions of African Americans and the African Diaspora, exploring the transformation of struggle and suffering into the bittersweet joy of survival.
UBW's much acclaimed 'Hair Parties' are hybrid performance pieces that combine excerpts of HairStories, UBW's acclaimed dance/theater work, with group dialogue in order to explore the power and politics of hair. Hair Parties encourage participants to re-examine closely held beliefs about themselves, society, class, race, gender, age, and individual beauty. UBW combine discussion, improvisation, audience participation, and dialogue into their hair parties and other performances.
Resource Link: www.urbanbushwomen.org
Amy Cassello
info@urbanbushwomen.org
718-398-4537
138 South Oxford Street, #4B
Brooklyn
NY
11217
In partnership with Americans for the Arts' Animating Democracy Initiative (www.americansforthearts.org/animatingdemocracy/), NCDD's Leah Lamb researched arts-based civic dialogue programs in order to help dialogue & deliberation practitioners strengthen their work by linking it to the arts. NCDD hopes these resources will inspire you, and encourages you to connect with the artists, many of whom are interested in working with D&D practitioners.
