Black History Month 2020 | Urban Bush Women | Study Guide

February 4 & 5, 2020 10:30am & 12:30pm

Urban Bush Women

Photo: © C. Roesing

Black History Month at The Town Hall In Par tne r shi p w i t h Con Edison

1 2 3 W e s t 4 3 r d S t N YC 1 0 0 3 6 | ( 2 1 2 ) 9 9 7 -1 0 0 3 | T HE TOWNHALL .o r g

Black History Month

Photo: © Ayano Hisa

Each year, since 1997, The Town Hall presents a series of free live performances—through the support of Con Edison—in celebration of Black History Month. The program consists of daytime performances, about an hour each, which are offered free of charge to New York City public school students and their teachers/chaperones.

Following the concert, a Black History Month poster and essay contest is held for students who attend the performances. The contest encourages students to think critically about the performance, as well as to express themselves through words and pictures. Winners will be awarded a monetary prize and will have their posters and essays featured for one year on the Town Hall website.

How to use this Study Guide The purpose of this guide is to provide teachers and administrators with contextual information about the performance, as well as activities and additional resources that can be used to develop lesson plans, to prepare students to be intuitive audience members and deepen their experience at Town Hall, and to offer additional pathways into possible connections with existing school curriculum.

Photo: © Christopher Duggan Courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow Dance

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Introduction What is Urban Bush Women?

Urban Bush Women (UBW) is a contemporary dance company based in Brooklyn, New York. The company was formed in 1984 by choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, who wanted to use dance to tell stories that are often ignored or under-represented in books, movies and television. Jawole is the Founding Artistic Director and Chief Visioning Officer. Chanon Judson Johnson and Samantha Speis are the current Artistic Directors; they are the company’s leaders.

What does a dance company do?

UBW has seven dancers, all women, and occasionally works on projects with other dancers, poets, and musicians, including men. This is the dancers’ full-time job. When they are in New York preparing to go on a tour, the company rehearses Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Rehearsals are a lot like practice for an athlete on a sports team: We warm up. We learn or create new dances (like learning new plays in a playbook). And we practice dances we already know to make sure we are ready for performance.

Photo: © Julieta Cervantes

When we are on tour, we travel on planes or buses from city to city. We usually arrive a day or two before a show, and often we teach dance classes in community centers, schools, or universities in addition to performing. Our shows are onstage in a theater. Sometimes we have just one show in a city, sometimes we perform every day for a week, and occasionally we even have two shows in one day.

What style of dance do you do?

UBW performs modern dance, and one of the notable things about that is we dance barefoot onstage. This is largely because when modern dance was created it was a rebellion against ballet, a dance form in which dancers wear ballet slippers and pointe shoes. It also helps us to feel more connected with the floor.

The dancers in UBW have trained for years in many dance techniques so that we can be as versatile as possible. This is necessary because the dances the company does combine many different movement styles – from West African to ballet to hip-hop. So sometimes you will see pointed feet, sometimes flexed; sometimes we move our entire bodies through space, and other times we isolate just one part of the body (like the hips); sometimes we leap high off the ground and other times we roll across it. In some of the dances, we even talk and sing.

Do you do anything besides dance?

We don’t just dance on stages. UBW also has a strong commitment to working with communities, bringing our dance and teaching skills to the table to help people express their joys, concerns, and hopes. We dance with old and young people, folks with a lot of dance training or none at all. We have even been asked to help groups and communities make dances to tell stories about difficulties they were having. We think dance is a great way to express oneself onstage and in everyday life.

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Seeing & Performance

Photo: Š Gennia Cui

Would you ever want to perform?

What mode would you use?

What would your purpose be?

Different Modes of Performance There are many ways to perform. Musicians, actors, dancers, circus talents, and spoken word artists are all performers.

People perform or present something to an audience, in different ways and for various reasons, including telling a story or informing the audience about something they were previously unaware of. Other performers use their talents to put the audience in a certain mood. Some people present work in order to show the audience something beautiful or to show off something that takes great skill and precision.

A performer may use more than one of the reasons as the inspiration for showcasing his or her talent.

Urban Bush Women’s primary mode of performance is dance. We are performers trained in modern dance, as well as in other dance forms. However, our performances usually include additional elements. Music is important in our work, and each dance has its own unique score. Some of the dance pieces also include spoken word, or text.

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What to Expect at a Performance At the theater, there will be lots of seats facing the stage so that everyone can see the show. Ushers are usually available to help you find your assigned seats, or assigned section with your teacher. Similar to a movie theater, the lights will go down when the performance begins. This is so that you can better view the stage lighting. Each dance has special lighting effects designed to highlight certain parts of the dance or to create a special mood onstage. The lights will come back up at intermission, or at the end of the show. In addition to special lights, you can expect to see special clothes at the performance. We always wear clothes that are easy to move around in. Sometimes these costumes cover less of the body than normal street-wear so that the audience can see all of our movements. For each piece, the dancers wear different costumes that match the theme of the dance.

Audience Behavior and Performer Behavior The performers arrive at the theater much earlier than the audience. Before the show, we prepare our bodies by taking a dance class together, stretching, and practicing parts of the dances onstage. We leave the stage and go to the dressing rooms at least thirty minutes before the performance so that the audience can enter the theater. When the performers come back to the stage, we do the best dancing we can do in an effort to engage and to please the audience. We do not usually interact with the audience during the dances, but we bow to show our appreciation.

The audience members are expected to watch and to enjoy the show; it is for you! UBW often hosts a question and answer session at the end of the performance, or between pieces so that audience members may share their reactions and ask questions. Talking during the show is discouraged, it can distract others and cause you to miss things happening on stage. The audience is expected to remain seated during the whole performance, and to clap when the performers bow.

This signifies mutual respect between the audience and the artists. If audience members are extremely moved by a piece, or like it immensely, they give a standing ovation (standing while they clap at the end of a dance).

You can also communicate with Urban Bush Women about the show through letters and pictures (138 South Oxford Street #4B, Brooklyn, NY 11217 and info@urbanbushwomen.org).

Photo: Š Nathea Lee

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REPERTORY:

Give Your Hands to Struggle When was this dance made?

The dance was made in 1998, as part of a longer work called Hand Singing Song.

What is this dance about?

The dance is a tribute to Civil Rights leaders whose work contributed to a better future for all of us. The title is based on a speech by Adam Clayton Powell, “What’s In Your Hands.”

What makes this dance unique?

The entire dance is based on moving one body part, the hands. Even though the movement goes through the whole body, the hand is the body part that is most focused on.

At the beginning of the dance, the names of important artists and Civil Rights leaders who have died are read.

Photo: © Ian Douglas

Research Prompt Resources for Teachers: Bayard Ruskin Fanny Lou Hamer Ruby Doris Smith (Robinson) James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman Ella Jo Baker Viola Liuzzo Medgar Evers Pearl Primus Rosa Parks Katherine Dunham Kwame Ture Lorraine Hansberry Septima Clark Ida B. Wells Mary McLeod Bethune Daisy Bates

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Research Prompts 1) Who were some major civil rights activists, aside from Martin Luther King Jr.?

2) Write a journal entry about people in your life who have helped to make your life better.

3) Create a collage of pictures and words as a tribute to people, either in the past or right now, who you think of as leaders building a better future for all of us.

Related Movement Activity 1) Instruct students to choose one body part, such as hand, elbow, head.

2) Give students one minute to make three gestures with that body part.

3) For the first gesture, ask students to make it repeat.

4) For the second gesture, ask students to change the level (so if they were doing the movement in a high space, tell them to switch to low, and vice-versa).

5) For the third gesture, ask them to change the speed (so if the gesture was slow, make it fast, and vice-versa.)

6) Have them add the three new gestures together to make a dance phrase.

REPERTORY:

Girlfriends When was this dance made?

Jawole Zollar, the Artistic Director of Urban Bush Women, choreographed Girlfriends in 1986.

What is this dance about?

The dance celebrates group dynamics. When Jawole was a college student, she had three roommates. They became good friends, and they still keep in touch today, nearly fifty years later! When she choreographed Girlfriends, Jawole exaggerated the qualities of each of her roommates and of herself to create four characters. The piece is about how these four characters interact, sometimes bickering, sometimes laughing, sometimes taking care of one another.

What makes this dance unique?

Most dances are created with music, but not all of them are; Girlfriends is performed in silence. We rely completely on our bodies to communicate our particular character to the audience, using facial expressions and gestures. We must be aware of each other throughout the piece because we cannot rely on music cues to let us know when to move. Each dancer moves in reaction to the other dancers. We breathe together and use eye contact to achieve unison when the choreography calls for us to dance the same steps at the same time.

Research Prompt Resources for Teachers: Twyla Tharpe: In The Upper Room (choreographed 1986) and Ballare (choreographed 1986) Alvin Ailey: Blues Suite (choreographed 1986) and Vespers (choreographed 1986) Bob Fosse: 1986 Tony Award for best choreography for “Big Deal” Elliot Feld: Skara Brae (choreographed 1986)

Research Prompts 1) What are silent films? When were they utilized?

2) Think about your best friends. List their predominant qualities, as if you were going to create a character for a play or dance based on each friend.

3) What are some other dances that were choreographed by American choreographers in 1986?

How are they similar to, and different from, Girlfriends?

Related Movement Activity Create a safe four-way intersection without any verbal cues!

1) Divide your class into four groups, with each group forming a line facing the center from each side of the room.

2) All at once, send the first person from each line to walk in a straight path across to the other side without bumping into the other three people.

3) Repeat until everyone in the lines has crossed.

4) This time, practice speed walking across the intersection without bumping into anyone. You’ll have to find some nonverbal cues to negotiate four people crossing without bumps!

5) Once everyone in the lines has crossed this way, allow people to travel the intersection however they want (ie. jumps, crawls, runs, free form), increasing the speed as long as each four people cross in silence without collision.

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REPERTORY:

Women’s Resistance

Photo: © Hayim Heron

When was this dance made?

The collaboration between Compagnie Jant-bi and Urban Bush Women happened over three years, with several trips back and forth between the United States and Senegal. Women’s Resistance is an excerpt from Les écailles de la mémoire (The scales of memory) which premiered on January 17, 2008.

What is this dance about?

The larger work has two choreographers, Jawole Zollar and Germaine Acogny (Artistic Director of Compagnie Jant-bi). They worked together to create a dance for both of their companies around three themes: love, resistance, and memory. One of the dance companies is made up of women and one is all men.

Of course, UBW is an American dance company, while Compagnie Jant-bi is based in Senegal. Les écailles de la mémoire explores the shared history of dancers in the two companies, as well as the meaning of our differences through the three themes.

The Women’s Resistance section is performed by Urban Bush Women. The other company has their own resistance section in the piece. In ours, we explore various ways of saying “no” and standing our ground. We use raised fists and fierce jumps, but we also include stillness to exemplify strength and determination. As women and people of color, there are historical events we have in common wherein we had to be strong and utilize resistance. Each dancer also tells her own personal resistance story in the dance, though.

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What makes this dance unique?

There is a lot of floor work in this piece; the dancers jump high into the air, but we also dance on the floor, making low shapes with our bodies. We spend a lot of time in the dance studio practicing how to move safely from standing to being on the floor. The level changes in Women’s Resistance make it an athletic and dynamic piece, and also relate to the themes of resourcefulness and adaptability.

The color palette of the costumes is also special. Naoko Nagata, the costume designer, used red to symbolize resistance. That is why each dancer has an element of red in her costume. Naoko did not want us to all look the same though, since we each have our own personality and our own resistance movements.

She gave our costumes one unifying element.

Research Prompts 1) Who is Mahatma Ghandi? What kind of resistance did he advocate? Why? 2) Find a visual artist who has used resistance or self-determination as themes for his/her work.

3) There is a movement from capoeira in this dance. What is capoeira and who does it?

Related Movement Activity 1) In a small group, make a spontaneous gesture of resistance/strength on the count of “3.” Repeat this until each of you has personally decided on what your gesture will be.

2) Teach your group mates your gesture and learn theirs.

3) Choose three resistance gestures from your group (including your own or not).

4) Modify the three gestures so that one is at a high level (jumping), one is at a low level (as close to the floor as possible), and one is at a middle level.

5) Practice stringing your three multi-level resistance gestures together so that they become one long movement phrase instead of three small pieces of movement.

6) With your partners, decide what spatial formation you will make together (a line, a circle, a scattering, a diagonal, etc.) and show the other groups your resistance dance.

Photo: © C. Roesing

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REPERTORY:

I Don’t Know but I’ve Been Told When was this dance made?

This work was created in 1989 in response to conversation among dance presenters that complained about the lack of dance in public schools. Jawole recognized that there was a great deal of dance in the public schools and in the community. Rather than a lack of art, there was a failure to recognize and legitimize the rich culture that existed.

What is this dance about?

This work was also inspired by a three month research engagement trip in New Orleans where Jawole and company experienced dance and music strongly integrated in the community.

What makes this dance unique?

This dance is a celebration of people who dance in school, streets, clubs, communities. “People who keep the spirit of dance alive all over the world.” (Jawole Zollar)

Research Prompts In addition to a three month journey to New Orleans, research for this work also included study of the Gandy Songs, chants created by the black men that worked on railroad construction. This work was difficult, the songs and chants provided support for the difficult labor by giving the men a rhythm to work in unison. It also raised their spirits to sing together.

Lastly, the dancers’ own experiences were part of the research. The company members used the songs and movement traditions from their communities as part of the art making for this work. Much of this dance reflects Jawole’s experience in the marching band culture of Kansas City, MO and games that she played with friends in her neighborhood.

Related Movement Activity Go to youtube and watch this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=025QQwTwzdU 1) Identify the rhythms you hear. What else do you observe or feel in the chants?

2) Consider some of the movement games or songs you share with your friends. Share with your class.

3) Many of the rhythms in IDK are polyrhythms, where more than one rhythm is happening at a time. Divide the class into three groups. Give group one a slow, whole note meter to clap. Group two should clap on half notes, twice as fast. Group three should clap on quarter notes, four times as fast! Explore finding your own rhythm that complements this orchestration.

Photo: © Hayim Heron

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Glossary

Photo: Š Hayim Heron

Choreography | the process of creating a dance Choreographer | a person who creates or invents a dance Concert | a formal performance of music or dance for an audience Costume | special clothes designed for a dance or theater production Culture | the collective customs and accomplishments of a particular group of people Dance | many sequences of movement that combine to produce a whole; a dance has organization, progression, and development, including a beginning, middle, and end Diaspora | a distribution of a people from their original homeland; the community formed by such people; in Urban Bush Women, we draw inspiration and movement from cultures of the African Diaspora Gesture | the use of motions of the body or limbs as a means of expression or non-verbal communication Modern Dance | a performance movement form that evolved at the beginning of the 20th century, modern dance can be contrasted with ballet, tap, or jazz Style | a distinctive manner of moving Technique | the learning of movement skills; the ability to use special methods to create a dance

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Black history month

CROSSWORD

Do you know these words?

Do you know these words?

Hint: vocabulary words can be found in the glossary

(Hint: vocabulary words can be found in the glossary) 1

2

3

4

5

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ACROSS 1 A formal performance of music or dance for an audience ACROSS A distribution of a people from their original for homeland, or the community formed by 1 A4formal performance of music or dance an audience people of a people from their original homeland, or the community formed 4 Athese distribution 5 Thepeople customs and accomplishments of a group of people these 6 The ability to use specific methods to create a dance

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by

The customs and accomplishments of a group of people The ability to use specific methods to create a dance DOWN 1

The process of creating a dance

DOWN 2 Clothes designed for a dance or theater production 1 The process of creating a dance 3 The use of body motion to communicate 2 Clothes designed for a dance or theater production 3 The use of body motion to communicate Solutions: 1 Across: Concert | 4 Across: Diaspora | 5 Across: Culture | 6 Across: Technique 1 Down: Choreography | 2 Down: Costume | 3 Down: Gesture

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STUDENT POSTER & ESSAY CONTEST Students are encouraged to enter The Town Hall and Con Edison’s Black History Month Student Poster & Essay Contest following the performance. Six winners will receive an award of $50, to be presented at an award ceremony. Winners will have their posters and essays featured for one year on The Town Hall website.

Teachers should review and correct grammar, but not suggest or alter content. Teachers must collect and submit all posters and essays. All submissions must include the student’s name, school, grade, teacher, and school phone number on the back of each entry in pencil. Only posters or essays from students who attended the performance will be accepted.

POSTER GUIDELINES Design a poster for Black History Month that illustrates your own Marching Band.

Size: 8.5” x 11” Medium: crayon, marker, colored pencil, tempera paint

Art: Musrical Anwar - MS664 BEES, Grade 8 Teacher: Ms. Lauren Barth

ESSAY GUIDELINES Write an essay on one of the following topics: • When you heard the drum for the first time during the performance, what did you think of?

• Where are some places that you see people dancing? How does it make you feel?

Can you describe what you see?

• During the performance, I was most surprised by _________________.

Art: Fortune Akinsiku - PS 114x, Grade 5 Teacher: Ms. Laurie Griffel

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Entries must be postmarked no later than Friday, March 20, 2020.

Please remit to: BRITNI MONTALBANO | The Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036 For more information, contact Britni Montalbano at 212-997-1003 x17 or bmontalbano@thetownhall.org.

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Resources Books for Young Adults and their Teachers Anderson, Jack. Ballet & Modern Dance: A Concise History, Third Edition.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton Book Company, 2018.

Asante, Mole, and Kariamu Asante. African Culture: the Rhythms of Unity.

Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1990.

Dallard, S. Ella Baker: A Leader Behind the Scenes.

Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Silver Burdett Press, 1990.

Drewal, M.T. Sources of African and African-Related Dance.

New York, NY: American Dance Guild, 1974.

Drewe, Sheryle Bergmann. Creative Dance: Enriching Understanding. Toronto: Brush Education Publishing, 1996.

Duncan, A.F. The National Civil Rights Museum Celebrates Everyday People.

Bridgewater Books, 1995.

Gilbert, Anne Green. Brain-Compatible Dance Education, Second Edition.

Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, Inc, 2006.

Greene, Carol. Katherine Dunham: black dancer.

Chicago: Children’s Press, 1993.

Books for Young Children and their Teachers Gilbert, Anne Green. Brain-Compatible Dance Education, Second Edition.

Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, Inc, 2006.

Jones, Bill T. and Susan Kuklin. Dance!

New York, NY: Hyperion Books, 1998.

Joyce, Mary. First Steps in Teaching Creative Dance to Children.

McGraw-Hill Humanities Social, 1993.

Knight, Margy Burns. Africa Is Not a Country. First Avenue Editions, 2002.

Pinkney, Andrea Davis. Alvin Ailey. New York, NY: Hyperion Books for Children, 1995.

Pinkney, Andrea Davis. Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters.

Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.

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Resources Videos Dance Black America. Pennington, NJ: Pennebaker Associates, 1984. (Shows a four-day festival of African American dance performances.)

Free to Dance. American Dance Festival, 2001. (Presents the history of African-American dance in the United States and includes interviews and performance by Jawole Willla Jo Zollar of Urban Bush Women.)

Dancing –Produced by Thirteen/WNET in association with RM Arts and BBC-TV© Thirteen/ WNET and RM Arts, 1993.

The tap dance kid – New York: Learning Corporation of America, 1978.

He makes me feel like dancin’ – Los Angeles, CA: Direct Cinema Limited, 1987.

Websites Liz Lerman Dance Exchange Toolbox: www.danceexchange.org/toolbox/ Urban Bush Women: www.urbanbushwomen.org

Contact Urban Bush Women 138 South Oxford Street, #4B Brooklyn, New York 11217 (718) 398-4537 info@urbanbushwomen.org

Photo: © Rick McCullough

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Black History Month is sponsored by Con Edison.

This and other programs are made possible, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

Town Hall’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

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