DANCING THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE.

DANCING THE VOICE OF THE
PEOPLE

URBAN BUSH WOMEN
NEW HAVEN INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS
AND IDEAS
JOHN LYMAN CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT
JUNE 28-30, 2001

When Dixwell, a piece created by Urban Bush Women in collaboration with Connecticut's Dixwell community, premiered at New Haven's International Festival of Arts and Ideas, the audience was nearly as vocal as the performers. In their signature style, the dancers moved with fierce conviction and spoke, sang, and acted out their message. The company performed Dixwell at New Haven's Southern Connecticut State University, portraying the evolution of a local neighborhood that played a prominent role in the emergence of jazz and which protested against urban renewal projects in the later part of the last century.

How does a New York-based company enter a community they know little about and transform its history--the good, the bad and the ugly--into an inspiring and accurate depiction of its development? One that had spectators shouting "Yeah, that's right!" throughout and applauding at the end? UBW, directed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, specializes in making dances with social consciousness as well as aesthetic appeal. After a six-month search, the festival and the Regional Cultural Plan selected the company to work with the community.

UBW's blend of movement, voice, and text made for a smooth and multifaceted telling of Dixwell's story. Zollar and Musical Director Kwame Ross created most of the choreography, with contributions from dancers Shani Nwando Ikerioha Collins and Tania Isaac. Nine New Haven dancers and community members augmented the eleven-member company, which spent six weeks in residence crafting the piece--it included film, slides, and recorded interviews. Musicians Ross, Rhan Burton, Charles Vincent Burwell, Brian Jarawa Gray, Jesse Hameen II, and Shawn Vincent performed live; two singers, David Miller, an 18-year-old student at SCSU, and Gloria J. Richardson, who works for the New Haven Police Department, completed the cast.

The show began with a section called "Amistad," depicting the African uprising on a slave ship that led to the Africans being imprisoned in New Haven. Choreographed by Ross and Zollar with text by Aaron Jafferis, "Amistad" powerfully and effectively distilled the event into essential gestures, like hands clasped behind the back to depict bound slaves. Zollar used a similar technique in describing events orally. "It was displacement rather than development," one Dixwell resident said in a recorded interview about the community's "urban renewal" projects.

In a phenomenal first-act scene, Richardson performed in the style of singer Bessie Smith, singing "It Makes My Love Come Down" in Dixwell's club The Monterey. "Turn out the lights and do what you did last night," she sang. "You know what I'm talking about..." The audience roared its approval. In the second act, Zollar performed text she had written called "Hand to Fist." This description of the Black Power movement cited reasons for its demise: lack of motivation, internal conflict, and infiltration by the FBI. Two community drill teams, Mob Squad and Nation, brought 100 dancers onstage for a rocking finale of drumming, marching, and gyrating. The scene was a vision of Dixwell's future, a vision of energy, strength, and unity.

Urban Bush Women excels at establishing trust with community members, enabling participants to shape their story according to community priorities, not those of the company. It's a process that requires sensitivity, acceptance, and risk-taking. Ultimately, the audience and the performers' sense of fulfillment that follows distinguishes pieces like Dixwell from standard art or entertainment. Dixwell included both of these, as well as sincerity and inspiration. It was a performance that left a trail of thoughts, ideas, and memories in its wake.