Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, a choreographer who communicates cultural identity and equity issues through dance, was presented with the 29th annual Dorothy and Lillian Gish Awards on Monday. The prize, worth about $250,000, is given to US artists who, as famous actress Lillian Gish describes, have made “an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world” and for “understanding” and enjoy life” of everyone.
“I don’t think about trying to make an impact or trying to be recognized or seen,” Zollar said in a phone interview. “I think it’s in my social DNA to think beyond myself.”
The head of the selection panel, Kay Takeda, said the panel received more than 100 nominations and chose Zollar in response to her community building and the engagement born of her creative work. that.
Takeda, executive director of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, said in an interview: “She incorporated movement vocabulary inspired by African traditions into the canon.
“Aesthetically, she’s a pioneer,” Takeda added.
Zollar founded Urban Bush Women, a group that explored black identity and systematic oppression through the movement, in 1984. As a college student in the 1970s, Zollar said, she participated in the feminist movements, against the Vietnam War, the love of freedom and black power. Buttons from the present and decades ago have left a mark on her work.
“I’m not waving a banner saying, ‘Here, this is what you’re seeing on stage, but people are clearly experiencing a company that does a deep analysis of systemic oppression, of racism. , about sexism,’ she said.
The majority of Zollar’s founding members grew up in de facto segregated cities, where they conveyed their racist life experiences on stage. Zollar doesn’t want to erase individuality, she says, but enhances it through the use of sound and full-body movement. She challenges stereotypes in “Anarchy, Wild Woman and Dinah“Where the performers eat fried chicken and watermelon, and ask the dancers to do the fight and riot in their hips in”Move Batty. ”
“We have a Blackness of thought, culture and way of life that we don’t need to articulate,” she said. “And at the same time, we also understand that we are constantly against something, so how do you use that creatively?”
Paloma McGregor, a choreographer and member of Urban Bush Women from 2005 to 2010, says Zollar inspired her to leave journalism and pursue dance. Though dance falls short of other art forms, McGregor said Zollar has the unparalleled skill to turn vision into action.
In addition to her powerful choreography, McGregor said, “she’s committed to innovating leadership development strategies that have benefited two generations of artistic leaders, myself included.”
McGregor, who said she has nominated Zollar for the Gish Award multiple times, said Zollar has influenced people through the company’s Choreography Center Initiative, which supports choreographers who are women of color. and the Summer Leadership Institute, a 10-day intensive organization that builds artists to be “frontline social justice workers.”
“Often artists like Jawole don’t get recognized until after they’ve left us,” she said, “so congratulate her now while she continues to innovate as an artist.” an artist, a choreographer, a leader, a mentor, a maverick is not only satisfying as someone present in her life,” she added, but also a hit point. mark the value of this work.
