INTERVIEW: The Apollo celebrates 40 years of Urban Bush Women
Photo: The 40-year anniversary of Urban Bush Women is being celebrated at The Apollo with a special exhibition of artifacts and archival material. Here, the company performs Women’s Resistance, featuring, from left, Mikaila Ware, Mame Diarra Speis, Courtney J. Cook and Chanon Judson. Photo courtesy of Hayim Heron / Provided by Resnicow and Associate with permission.
The new exhibition at The Apollo that celebrates the 40-year anniversary of Urban Bush Women, the Black women-led theatrical dance company, was such a hit in its first few weeks that the Harlem venue has extended the display of artifacts and archival material through May 31. Visitors to The Apollo can enjoy these images and history lessons in the Frank and Laura Baker Gallery Space at The Apollo Stages at The Victoria. What they will find is a journey into the past of one of the most respected and influential dance companies in the United States.
An added bonus of Urban Bush Women: Legacy, Lineage and Liberation are pop-up performances that take place on select Saturdays. These solo shows allow the history to come to life within the gallery space for those fortunate enough to be visiting at the time. Pop-ups are currently scheduled for April 26, May 17 and May 31.
“Who doesn’t want to be a part of that celebration,” said Leatrice Ellzy, senior director of programming for The Apollo. “[We] support our colleagues and this 40-year legacy of dance that they have provided us.”
Ellzy said that Urban Bush Women took the lead on creating the exhibition, and The Apollo was able to shuffle some projects around to provide the necessary space. This gallery is quickly becoming an important exhibition area in New York City, with interesting visual conversations on unique histories that tie directly and indirectly to The Apollo itself.
“They have literally made use of all of the space, all the wall space,” Ellzy said. “They made use of the column space. Because to tell the 40-year history of Urban Bush Women, you need space. They’ve made a great use of the space in terms of posters of performances past. You get a snapshot of the people who were involved. You get a snapshot of their ethos, of what they do, how they do what they do. You really, really get a snapshot of Urban Bush Women who they were, and then you get the chance to walk through this exhibition and see their becoming to who they are now. Then there is wonderful video footage that we get an opportunity to see. You can watch the footage loop, and through that footage, they’re telling stories through a lot of different snapshots through various times. I think that they’ve done a great job of using the space.”
For those unfamiliar with Urban Bush Women’s work, here’s how The Apollo website describes the company’s mission and impact: “UBW embraces the power of radical storytelling to activate social change. Whether creating genre-defying work for the stage, guiding the development of Black Women+ choreographers and producers, organizing for justice through art-making, or inspiring leaders across generations, UBW is an innovator, operating at the vanguard.”
The company was founded in 1984 by choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, according to press notes, with performances centered on deep healing and ancestral knowledge that highlighted the African Diaspora. The leadership of the company has been passed on to Chanon Judson and Mame Diarra Speis, but Zollar didn’t leave without a gift: a new choreographic work called Scat! … The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar, which recently premiered.
To understand their journey on the vanguard, Legacy, Lineage and Liberation also includes artifacts from the dance company’s history. They are replicas of actual objects that speak to these four decades of moving modern dance in various new directions.
“If you know Urban Bush Women, if you’re into dance, you’re super-excited,” Ellzy said. “If you walk in as a newcomer, and you have no idea who they are, you certainly go through this experience and walk away with a strong understanding of who this dance company has been for 40 years.”
The pop-up performances, perhaps the most exciting aspect of the exhibition, have been well-attended displays of choreographic storytelling. Ellzy reported that the previously held performances have been packed, with people flowing out into the hallway. RSVPs are recommended so The Apollo can plan ahead.
This particular exhibition has been in the works for months. The actual installation took place in January, but the development dates back to September and October of last year. In this particular space, there was a successful art exhibition in 2024 centered on the work of Alex Harsley, and then The Apollo’s education department and archival department were thinking of a show centered on the influential women in The Apollo’s past. This planned remembrance speaks to the longevity and unparalleled history of The Apollo, which dates back 91 years. But when Urban Bush Women pitched the idea for a spring 2025 exhibition, projects were moved around to give them adequate time and space.
“Basically I asked [the two departments] if they had any problem with pausing,” Ellzy said. “Of course, they were like, ‘Absolutely. That’s not a problem.’ … Education, they had a lot going on, and so they welcomed having the pause and being able to come back with something later. So it actually really worked out well.”
Ellzy added: “I think that each of the exhibitions that we plan on putting into the space, there’s quite often going to be some type of connection to Harlem in some kind of way or some type of connection to The Apollo. … This particular exhibition does draw on all these different pieces that are very much in alignment with who The Apollo is. … We are constantly, as this 91-year-old legacy institution, taking a look at the past and drawing from that, as well as having our feet firmly in the present and wanting to also reach for the future. What are the voices of the future? What are we going to be thinking about 100 years from now? So we really do ask those questions within the curatorial process.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Urban Bush Women: Legacy, Lineage and Liberation continues through May 31 in the Frank and Laura Baker Gallery Space at The Apollo Stages at The Victoria in Harlem, New York City. Click here for more information.
