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Non-profit arts organization receives two Bessie Award nominations as its new company prepares for national tour in February 2026
BROOKLYN, N.Y. - IdaStar -- As Urban Bush Women (UBW), a Black women-led theatrical dance company and social activism ensemble, prepares for touring, the organization celebrates two Outstanding Choreographer/Creator nominations announced by The Bessies in November 2025. Former Co-Artistic Directors Chanon Judson and Mame Diarra Speis received a 2024 nomination for Haint Blu, and Urban Bush Women received a 2025 nomination for SCAT!... The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar directed and co-choreographed by returning Founding Artistic Director Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Vincent E. Thomas, with support from SCAT! Associate Producer Cheri L. Stokes and Movement Coach Bennalldra Williams. UBW especially thanks Talvin Wilks for his dramaturgy for both nominated works.
"It always feels good to be acknowledged by your community," says Zollar. "I am honored to be nominated with so many fantastic artists whose work I admire and continue to be inspired by their brilliance."
The 2024 and 2025 Bessie Award nominations include numerous members of UBW's ecosystem, spanning from UBW Company alumni, BOLD facilitators, collaborators, Choreographic Center Initiative (CCI) fellows, and Summer Leadership Institute (SLI) alumni across its 40-year legacy. "We are ecstatic that the Company has been honored with two Bessie nominations—for large-scale, landscape shifting works—and delighted to see so many UBW alumni also mentioned. This is a powerful testament to the tenacity and artistry of the Bush," says Executive Director Michele Kumi Baer.
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In February 2026, the Company will take this exciting momentum on the road with a four-city national tour, THIS IS RISK. This energetically charged evening features the return of Jawole's Shelter, the full performance of Batty Moves, last performed in 2002, and a new commission, Contemplations on Legacy, by long-time UBW collaborator and choreographer Vincent E. Thomas. The program will feature new company members welcomed earlier this year: Mikaela Brandon, Ashley Bromfield, Cameron Harris, Amina Konate, and Sade Morgan, as well as returning members Keola Jones and Kentoria Earle, with live music by new percussionist Daniel Prim and long-time UBW musician and vocalist Grace Galu Kalambay.
THIS IS RISK TOUR DATES, LOCATIONS, & LINKS TO BUY TICKETS:
These tour stops will also include UBW residency activities with local community organizations and universities, including technique classes for dance students, lecture demonstrations, and community workshops as part of UBW's BOLD programming.
ABOUT URBAN BUSH WOMEN
URBAN BUSH WOMEN (UBW) is a groundbreaking Black women-led theatrical dance company and social activism ensemble founded in 1984 by visionary choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Through its mission of engaging with artists, activists, audiences, and communities through performances, artist development, education, and community engagement, the award-winning nonprofit has performed throughout the United States, as well as Asia, Australia, Canada, Germany, South America, Europe and Senegal (in collaboration with Germaine Acogny and her all-male Compagnie JANT-BI). UBW has been an engine and amplifier for the stories of Black Women+ for forty years. UBW affects 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 experimental art makers. Signature programs run by UBW include the Summer Leadership Institute (SLI), BOLD (Builders, Organizers & Leaders through Dance) and the Choreographic Center Initiative (CCI) and the CCI Producing Program (CCI 2.0). UBW combines radical performance, deep engagement, and ancestral knowledge from the African diaspora into a force that is urgent, forward-looking, and essential. www.urbanbushwomen.org
"It always feels good to be acknowledged by your community," says Zollar. "I am honored to be nominated with so many fantastic artists whose work I admire and continue to be inspired by their brilliance."
The 2024 and 2025 Bessie Award nominations include numerous members of UBW's ecosystem, spanning from UBW Company alumni, BOLD facilitators, collaborators, Choreographic Center Initiative (CCI) fellows, and Summer Leadership Institute (SLI) alumni across its 40-year legacy. "We are ecstatic that the Company has been honored with two Bessie nominations—for large-scale, landscape shifting works—and delighted to see so many UBW alumni also mentioned. This is a powerful testament to the tenacity and artistry of the Bush," says Executive Director Michele Kumi Baer.
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In February 2026, the Company will take this exciting momentum on the road with a four-city national tour, THIS IS RISK. This energetically charged evening features the return of Jawole's Shelter, the full performance of Batty Moves, last performed in 2002, and a new commission, Contemplations on Legacy, by long-time UBW collaborator and choreographer Vincent E. Thomas. The program will feature new company members welcomed earlier this year: Mikaela Brandon, Ashley Bromfield, Cameron Harris, Amina Konate, and Sade Morgan, as well as returning members Keola Jones and Kentoria Earle, with live music by new percussionist Daniel Prim and long-time UBW musician and vocalist Grace Galu Kalambay.
THIS IS RISK TOUR DATES, LOCATIONS, & LINKS TO BUY TICKETS:
- Feb 5 - 7, 2026
Newmark Theatre at White Bird
Portland, OR
TICKETS - Feb 13, 2026
Kenworthy Performing Arts Center
Moscow, ID
Presented by the Terry Buffington Foundation
TICKETS - Feb 19 - 21, 2026
University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
Notre Dame, IN
TICKETS - Feb 27, 2026
Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts
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Louisville, KY
TICKETS
These tour stops will also include UBW residency activities with local community organizations and universities, including technique classes for dance students, lecture demonstrations, and community workshops as part of UBW's BOLD programming.
ABOUT URBAN BUSH WOMEN
URBAN BUSH WOMEN (UBW) is a groundbreaking Black women-led theatrical dance company and social activism ensemble founded in 1984 by visionary choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Through its mission of engaging with artists, activists, audiences, and communities through performances, artist development, education, and community engagement, the award-winning nonprofit has performed throughout the United States, as well as Asia, Australia, Canada, Germany, South America, Europe and Senegal (in collaboration with Germaine Acogny and her all-male Compagnie JANT-BI). UBW has been an engine and amplifier for the stories of Black Women+ for forty years. UBW affects 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 experimental art makers. Signature programs run by UBW include the Summer Leadership Institute (SLI), BOLD (Builders, Organizers & Leaders through Dance) and the Choreographic Center Initiative (CCI) and the CCI Producing Program (CCI 2.0). UBW combines radical performance, deep engagement, and ancestral knowledge from the African diaspora into a force that is urgent, forward-looking, and essential. www.urbanbushwomen.org
Source: Urban Bush Women
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