Urban Bush Women

---

Urban Bush Women(UBW) is a Brooklyn-based contemporary dance company dedicated to exploring the use of cultural expression as a catalyst for social change founded in 1984 by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. The group seeks to bring the untold and under-told histories and stories of disenfranchised people to light through dance and does this from a woman-centered perspective and as members of the African Diaspora community in order to create a more equitable balance of power in the dance world and beyond. UBW works to galvanize artists, activists, audiences and communities through performances, artist development, education and community engagement. With the performance ensemble at its core, ongoing initiatives like the Summer Leadership Institute, Builders, Organizers & Leaders through Dance, and the Choreographic Center Initiative, UBW continues to affect the overall ecology of the arts by promoting artistic legacies; projecting the voices of the under-heard and people of color; bringing attention to and addressing issues of equity in the dance field and throughout the United States; and by providing platforms and serving as a conduit for culturally and socially relevant experimental art makers. Zollar recently named company members Chanon Judson-Johnson and Samantha Speis as co-artistic directors of UBW.