Monday, May 27, 1996
Dancer explores issues of culture, race through artBy Cheryl
Klein
Daily Bruin Contributor
Intense drum beats bombard the stairwell of the dance building
from one direction, while classical piano chords float in from
another. Jawole Willa Jo Zollar is unfazed by the hodge-podge of
noise.
"There are no quiet places. That’s what I love about this
building," she says over the clamor.
Maybe her ability to focus is the result of a lifetime of dance
training. Or maybe it is because she spent much of that time trying
to sort through the mesh of cultures that is America.
Her work explores the differences in African-American and white
cultures and asks why each culture often finds the other so
alien.
This is complex subject matter, but Zollar is ready to look at
issues in society as related to dance during her two week visit as
a UCLA Regents’ Lecturer. She will lead classes in choreography,
technique, ensemble dynamics and ballet.
She confesses that the latter is unfamiliar territory.
"Working with the ballet is new for me," she says. "It’s new for
me, so it’s really exciting."
Zollar has never been one to shy away from the unknown.
Growing up in a primarily black neighborhood in Kansas City,
Missouri, she was subtly infused with the belief that, while white
people smelled funny, they also got to dictate the way things
were.
But as an introduction to her visit to UCLA she gave a speech
last Monday entitled, "Just Because It Smells Different Doesn’t
Mean It Stinks." A belief in the learning value of new experiences
may explain why she left her home state to attend graduate school
in Florida, where she found herself in the minority.
But by being around other cultures, she began to learn more
about her own. Subsequent expeditions revealed that
African-American culture was unique with respect to African-based
societies in other parts of the world.
"Any time you have people with (different histories), they’re
going to evolve differently," Zollar explains. "In Finland, it’s
cold  there’s not sun during the day or there is 24 hours of
sun, so what evolves culturally is mostly white.
"It’s going to be very different from what might evolve in the
southern part of the United States, where people came over
enslaved. It’s hot, there is a large population base. It’s not a
homogeneous community. It’s very polarized by race. So all those
things are going to make for different dynamics."
Though slavery was quelled long ago, Zollar expresses doubt that
the races have come any closer to understanding each other.
"We’ve never been together. I think that was an illusion that
people wanted to believe," she says. "I don’t know that we’re
better or worse (now), but the situation’s bad."
Zollar offers her work, which she defines as performance art, as
a window into the African-American experience.
On that note, she explains why she christened her dance troupe
"Urban Bush Women."
"I was looking for a name … that would conjure up images of a
warrior, nurturer, goddess, field worker. And to deal with the
complexity of it."
Zollar’s choreography varies in many ways, but is consistently
complex. In one piece a woman washes dishes and methodically hangs
clothes to dry to the single lonely voice of the narrator talking
about her isolated life.
In another piece, an energetic dancer hops about the stage as if
on hot coals, shaking her shoulders Michael Jackson-style and
making her own music  a combination of hisses, moans, and
unnerving cackles.
Music, or its more avant-garde replacements, is an important
part of the creative process for Zollar.
"I tend to lean towards percussion and the voice as the primary
instruments," she explains. "It’s all work that we create. We don’t
use any traditional chants … In some ways it’s like a writer. You
get an idea in your head, you work it out. You do the first draft,
second draft."
The finished piece extracts its sounds and movements from the
input of all the dancers involved.
"Our core is dance, but we use every facility available to us to
express the ideas of the dance," Zollar says.
Zollar’s work has highlighted social issues ranging from
homelessness to feminism. While describing herself as militant, she
denies going into the performance art with a specific political
agenda in mind.
"I have certain, I guess political, beliefs, but … everything
that I think about doesn’t necessarily reflect in a piece … It
has to be something that really resonates in my heart."
Zollar is not tall and her voice is not loud. Yet her brightly
colored clothing and the way she moves her hands to weave a picture
of what she is talking about suggest that she knows where her
passion lies.
It is a passion she is glad to share with UCLA and especially
the World Arts and Cultures program.
"I’m really having a good time seeing this really amazing
program here and how it’s unfolding ’cause it’s new," she says.
"What I’m hoping is that whatever voice I have as a professional
artist can help support the goals of this program."
DANCE: For more info about Zollar’s classes, call the department
of World Arts and Cultures at 206-1342.
Zollar’s choreography varies in many ways, but is consistently
complex. In one piece a woman washes dishes and methodically hangs
clothes to dry …