[NEohioPAL] COMPELLING URBAN BUSH WOMEN & COMPAGNIE JANT-BI PRESENT CLEVELAND PREMIER ON MARCH 1

COMPELLING URBAN BUSH WOMEN & COMPAGNIE JANT-BI PRESENT

CLEVELAND PREMIER ON MARCH 1

Urban Bush Women & Compagnie Jant-Bi

Saturday, March 1, 8 p.m.

Ohio Theatre

Tickets: 216.241.6000 or copy/paste the address below into your web broser to purchase online:

http://ev15.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetGroupList?groupCode=DANCE&linkID=psq&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=

For group tickets call 440-914-0744

Co-commission by DANCECleveland and Urban Bush Women and

Co-presented by DANCECleveland and Cuyahoga Community College

Collaboration with New York-Based Urban Bush Women and

Senegal's Compagnie Jant-Bi Bridges Continents and Cultures

Urban Bush Women and Compagnie Jant-Bi will present a new and innovative collaborative work,Les écailles de la mémoire (The scales of memory), for one performance only on Saturday, March 1 at 8:00 p.m. at the Ohio Theatre in Playhouse Square, co-presented by DANCECleveland and Cuyahoga Community College Performing Arts.

Three years in the making, Les écailles de la mémoire is the wondrous result of DANCECleveland’s receipt of a Joyce Foundation grant to commission a dance from Urban Bush Women drawing on West African movements, rhythms and styles. The evening-length work features seven dancers from each company in a high-energy piece that explores the importance of place and the role of identity within a community.

The movement vocabulary, created by mixing Compagnie Jant-Bi’s Senegalese nature-inspired technique and Urban Bush Women’s Brooklyn brand of African-influenced contemporary dance, forms a compelling cross-cultural exchange.

For over 20 years, the all-female company Urban Bush Women has enthralled audiences worldwide by weaving contemporary dance, music and text with the history, culture and spiritual traditions of African Americans. Founding Artistic Director Jawole Willa Jo Zollar infuses her work with equal parts compassion, humor, muscle and grace, and is renowned for exploring controversial topics such as civil rights, homelessness and women’s concepts of beauty and self-esteem. In addition to repertory for Urban Bush Women, Zollar has created works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet Arizona, Philadanco and Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, among others. “Jawole Willa Joe Zollar has created works that integrate dance, music and theater in an innovative brew with a distinctive flavor.” – Dance Magazine

Senegal’s all-male Compagnie Jant-Bi has stripped traditional African dance of its folkloric trappings into a powerfully direct, emotionally charged movement vocabulary. Through the lens of Western dance, Artistic Director Germaine Acogny has developed a pure language that captures the power and essence of African dance, rituals and community spirit. "Compagnie Jant-Bi dances with a mind-blowing intensity." – The New York Times

For more company information visit http://urbanbushwomen.org/. Information on the presenting partners can be found at: www.dancecleveland.org or www.tricpresents.com.

“Zollar’s Urban Bush Women possess a gorgeous movement quality, soft yet grounded, as if they are moving through clear, still water.”

– The Washington Post

“Fantastic percussion from the ensemble sets the tone . . . The production shows the best of the tradition of West African dance and music.” (Compagnie Jant-Bi)

– NR C, Amsterdam

Lilah Wiant

Tri-C Jazzfest Cleveland

2900 Community College Ave.

Theatre 11

Cleveland, OH 44115

Phone: 216-987-4249 Fax: 216-987-4422

lilah.wiant@xxxxxxxxx

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