By Kathy Valin

Urban Bush Women

JAWOLE WILLA JO ZOLLAR has a beautiful voice, well-modulated and confident. It's appropriate because the works she's created for URBAN BUSH WOMEN (UBW), the dance troupe she founded in 1984, are vital expressions of her artistic voice, combining contemporary dance with music and text to explore the cultural and spiritual traditions of African-Americans and the African diaspora. "That has been my goal," she says by phone from New York, "to have a very distinct voice." Though she no longer personally performs her company's repertory, Zollar is still its guiding force, working with third- and fourth-generation dancers. She talks about her troupe, the works they will present at the Aronoff's Jarson-Kaplan Theater on Jan. 12-13 (their fourth visit presented by CONTEMPORARY DANCE THEATER), and her artistic development.

Zollar grew up in Kansas City. "My mother made sure music and dance were part of my life," she says. "When I first formed the company, I threw out a lot of my training to concentrate on finding my own unique approach to movement. Over the years I've gone back and reincorporated more of my training, but now it's in my own voice," she says of her struggle to avoid cliché.

For their Cincinnati performance, UBW's seven dancers and live percussion will present "Shelter," which includes text from "between a rock and a hard place at the intersection of reduced resources and reverberating rage" by Hatie Gossett. They'll also perform two works new to Cincinnati audiences: "Hand Singing Song" (in which Zollar researched "dap" -- African and African-American handshakes, like the high five, which have now entered the mainstream) and "Soul Deep to the Bone."

Zollar is happy with her current crop of dancers. "It's a really visceral group," she says. "They have the technique, the 'legs,' all those things, but because of the voice of the choreography, they are not 'the most important things.' " She nurtures another kind of physical connection. Though her dancers (five women and two men) have ballet training, her choreography requires a certain "weight" from her dancers. When they get "too pulled up," she'll correct them, she laughs. "Most of my dancers have dance degrees, three have graduate degrees." Her work does require certain skills. "I like a dancer who knows ballet, but doing modern, release-type work really helps people to emphasize weight, the groundedness and interconnectedness that I'm interested in." She counts herself a single-vision choreographer: Rather than being members of a repertory company like Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, UBW dancers "get a chance to immerse themselves in one particular approach."

Aside from her pieces' subject matter, Zollar is politically committed in process. "For me, the personal is political," she says. The body styles of her company members are not typical for dancers. "The women's hips are wider, their butts are bigger," she observes. "You are looking at these women and men onstage -- particularly the women -- who are full-bodied, with nappy hair." Yet, the works aren't confrontational. "The point is not to say that one style is better than the other. The point is to say, 'This is possible, too.' "

Her company regularly works in multiple-week residencies in communities. "That's really where the catalyst for change comes." Zollar is delighted to return to Cincinnati. "I really am appreciative when a presenter (Contemporary Dance Theater) makes a repeat commitment. That's how audiences get to know an artist's work." Tickets: 513-591-2557). ... Also of note this month is the next PERFORMANCE AND TIME ARTS (P.T.A) show, Jan. 19-20 at the College Hill Town Hall (Info: 513-591-1222). A lighthearted dance collaboration by JULIE MULLINS and CARRIE ROHMAN examines the botanical implications of ferns, their ancient nature and the puzzle of how their fragmented root systems are so highly efficient. ... JUDITH MIKITA also appears as dancer and choreographer with Rohman in a short work based on a poem, "Oranges/Barbies," about childhood images. "We'll go from there," she chuckles. "P.T.A. allows for a creative laboratory. We experiment in a more informal atmosphere."

CONTACT KATHY VALIN: kvalin@citybeat.com

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