February 2005
Urban Bush Women"Pearl Intensive" Friday, February 11, 2005 Saturday, February 12, 2005 Purchase Tickets Online |
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Watching the award-winning performance troupe Urban Bush Women work is to participate in a creative process that fuses dance, music and storytelling with the spiritual traditions, cultural heritage, and vast history of African-Americans and African peoples from all over the world. Founded in 1984 by choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Urban Bush Women ensemble members combine their formal dance training with a wide range of vocal, theater, and performance techniques. Ms. Zollar weaves and juxtaposes these various cultural-artistic forms to articulate her unique vision of cultural expression as a catalyst for social change. The result is a vanguard company that delivers polished and intelligent performances known for innovation and excellence. The program will feature a commissioned work as a part of their 20th Anniversary program entitled “Walking with Pearl”. The centerpiece of the program is inspired by the life and dances of legendary African-American dance pioneer, teacher, and activist, Pearl Primus who used her art as a catalyst for social change. Born in Trinidad in 1919, Primus died in 1994. Over the course of her life she created works steeped in African-American culture and used her creative voice to protest poverty, lynching and racial discrimination. She is most well known for a work entitled Hard Time Blues, which was performed at union rallies and social protest events in the 30’s and 40’s.
Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra
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Saturday, February 19, 2005 8 p.m. Formed as a companion ensemble to the acclaimed Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, the PYAO and its conductor Louis Scaglione return for a sixth season. Hear these appealing young people in an evening of performance of great orchestral literature. |
