2018 SEASON
URBAN BUSH WOMEN’S HAIR AND OTHER STORIES
JANUARY 24 - 28, 2018
CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER
A new dance and theater work using the visceral and intellectual power of UBW’s approach to co-creation with audiences to construct a live experience that elicits conversations between and among the performers and audience around the subjects of self-image, race, and gender inequality through the lens of hair, primarily that of African-American women.
The audience experience includes:
A live-action gallery walk where UBW “Extra-Ordinaries Super Heroes” roam the lobby before the performance begins.
The Super Heroes lead a ritual devised to bring the audience into dialogue with the performers.
The audience will prompt the UBW Company on the necessary ingredients in our Recipe for the Extra-Ordinary Self for Extra-Ordinary Times.
Audience members pose for family portraits and discuss place, values, identity, history, racism, positionality, familial relationships and how these can provide us with the courage and hope needed to be active and present in unprecedented times.
GOMELA: SPRING TOUR
MARCH 10, 2018
CARVER COMMUNITY CULTURAL CENTER
SAN ANTONIO, TX
MARCH 16-18, 2018
7 STAGES THEATRE
ATLANTA, GA
APRIL 20-21, 2018
CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER
NEW ORLEANS, LA
Gomela, a Bantu word, means “to go back to/to return.” Directed by Stephanie McKee and developed by dancers Kesha McKey, Kai Knight, Jeremy Guyton, poet Sunni Patterson and drummer Jawara Simon, Gomela takes us on a journey through time and space. Making evident the connection between Africa, Haiti, and New Orleans, Gomela highlights the vibrant and percussive movements and stories that breathe life into ancient African dance and drumming and contemporary artistic expression, such as spoken word, hip-hop and jazz. Gomela is an experience of collective memories passed down from generation to generation, a tapestry woven by a group of multi-disciplinary artists who represent the diversity of African Americans who call New Orleans home.
Gomela is based on hope, survival, courage and the resilience that exists in the face of oppression. It is about the heartbeat of a people that will never die, the culture and traditions that continue to evolve, grow and survive the test of time. It illuminates Place Matters—gentrification and the Right of Return of New Orleanians displaced after Katrina; and Black Lives Matter—the beauty and resilience of black people, past and present.
HOMECOMING PROJECT: BELL
OCTOBER 26, 2018
BELL ARTSPACE CAMPUS
In Homecoming Project: Bell, artists Sunni Patterson, Frederick "Hollywood" Delahoussaye, Kesha McKey, Catherine Caldwell, Jeremy Guyton, & free feral will explore the rich significance of the former Bell School through dance, spoken word, music, and digital media.