***World Premiere of SCAT!… The Complex Lives of Al + Dot, Dot + Al Zollar

Conceived & Directed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
Original Music Composed by Craig Harris
Co-Choreographed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar & Vincent Thomas in collaboration with the company
Dramaturgy by Talvin Wilks

“SCAT!… The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar is my story. It is my family’s story. It is a personal and collective story of a family and a people, moving from the Jim Crow south during the Great Migration.” – Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, UBW Founder

Set in a fictional jazz club, “SCAT!… The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar” is a dance-driven musical that tells a love story of two people making their way during the Great Migration through song, dance and storytelling. It is a powerful tale of one family and what happens when dreams encounter the realities of American life in the 40s & 50s. “SCAT!… The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar” features an original jazz score performed by a live band.
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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, UBW is an engine and amplifier for the stories of Black Women+. Now directed by artistic leaders Chanon Judson and Mame Diarra Speis, UBW combines radical performance, deep engagement, and ancestral knowledge from the African diaspora into a force that is urgent, forward-looking, and essential. UBW has defied expectations for 40 years. The very bodies of its founding members—Black women of various shapes and sizes—changed the landscape of who could be seen on stage as a dancer. The work placed the concerns of such women center stage. UBW embraces radical storytelling to activate social change. Whether creating genre-defying work for the stage, guiding the development of Black Women+ choreographers and producers, or organizing for justice through artmaking, UBW is an innovator, operating at the vanguard. Learn more at www.urbanbushwomen.org.

Urban Bush Women 40th Anniversary leadership funding provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Additional funding is provided by the Howard Gilman Foundation.

SCAT! FUNDING

Lead commissioning support for the development and creation of SCAT!… The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar was provided by the Fisher Center at Bard through the Fisher Center’s Artistic Innovation Fund, with lead support from Rebecca Gold and additional funding from The William and Lia G. Poorvu Family Foundation.

Lead commissioning support was also provided by Brown Arts Institute at Brown University.

Additional commissioning support is generously provided by: The Perelman Performing Arts Center, The O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, and American Dance Festival with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works.

“SCAT!… The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar” is made possible in part by The Acton Family Fund, MAP Fund (supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Mellon Foundation), National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.