Jawole Willa Jo Zollar Awarded

Top Choreographer Zollar Honored for Stellar Achievement

Internationally known choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, an esteemed dance professor at The Florida State University and the founder and artistic director of the Brooklyn-based troupe Urban Bush Women, has been named a 2008 USA Wynn Fellow in dance by the philanthropic nonprofit organization United States Artists (USA).

The prestigious honor carries with it a $50,000 unrestricted grant in recognition of the exceptional contributions to the field of dance by Zollar, a Florida State alumna and the Nancy Smith Fichter Professor of Dance in the university's College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance. USA (www.unitedstatesartists.org) is an independent grant-making organization that invests in the work of America's finest artists and aims to illuminate their value to society. It announced its 2008 fellowships — awarded across a broad array of disciplines to a total of 50 artists working throughout the nation — during a Nov. 10 ceremony in Chicago.

"I am thrilled, humbled and grateful to receive this award, and feel indebted to my Florida State University colleagues and students for all the support and sheer joy I have received from being in their presence," Zollar said.

USA Fellows are chosen through a highly competitive nomination and peer-review process. Zollar is one of only five choreographers to receive the award. She shares her 2008 recognition with fellow American dance artists Ann Carlson, Joe Goode, Pat Graney and Dianne Walker.

"Jawole Zollar is a true American treasure who is most deserving of this important recognition," said Sally McRorie, dean of Florida State University's College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance. "The USA award is of particular importance because, like the MacArthur Award, funding goes directly to the artist with no specified duties or other requirements attached. Thus the award recognizes, rewards and extends the stellar record of accomplishment of exemplary artists, such as Jawole. Her extraordinary achievements in choreography, artistic direction and community engagement and her inspired teaching of young dancers make Jawole a true role model for artists in every discipline."

Zollar divides her time between teaching at The Florida State University and directing her all-female dance company, Urban Bush Women. She currently is presenting her latest work with Senegal's all-male Compagnie JANT-BI, titled "Les écailles de la memoire" (The Scales of Memory), at the distinguished Brooklyn Academy of Music. "Les écailles de la memoire" was developed in Tallahassee at Florida State University's Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography, a dance and choreographic research center that is part of one of the premier facilities for dance in the United States.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music performance of Zollar's latest work, which was first previewed last January in Tallahassee to raise scholarship money for Florida State students, marks the end of a yearlong tour to 20 cities across the country. Next, the work embarks for a tour of Europe. Footage of "Les écailles de la memoire" in development and podcasts with Zollar and her collaborators can be accessed online at www.mancc.org/2007-2008-artists/ubw-jant-bi-part-2.html.www.mancc.org/home.html.

Zollar Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship

A 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship has been awarded to internationally renowned choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, the founder and artistic director of the Brooklyn-based, all-female dance troupe Urban Bush Women, and the distinguished Nancy Smith Fichter Professor of Dance at The Florida State University.

Guggenheim fellowships are bestowed annually on a select cadre of mid-career professionals with records of stellar achievement and great promise for more of the same in the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and creative arts. This year, Zollar's fellowship is one of just 180 awarded to U.S and Canadian artists, scientists and scholars — chosen after rigorous review from nearly 3,000 applicants — and one of only five awarded to choreographers.

"The Guggenheim Foundation recognizes a select few artists who have demonstrated extraordinary ability, and our honored alumna Jawole certainly fits that description," said Sally McRorie, dean of Florida State's College of Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance. "From her inspired choreography to her energetic mentoring of dancers and passionate engagement with building community through the arts, one would be hard pressed to find a better example of exceptional creative talent, professional dedication, and sheer love of life. Her story is one of the best to ever flower on this campus, and we feel fortunate to have that story as part of our own."

"I am thrilled and most grateful to be recognized and awarded support from the Guggenheim Foundation," Zollar said. "Every artist has profound doubts and questions about their own work, but such awards help us to continue to move forward."

With her $35,000 Guggenheim fellowship, Zollar plans to complete research and development for a new work currently titled "visible/invisible" for which she'll serve as the conceptual and choreographic director.

"The work will explore themes of the Great Migration of African Americans who left the South after the Civil War, as well as other documented and undocumented immigrants whose intersection in America's urban centers birthed new cultural art forms," Zollar said. "I'll be posing questions such as, 'Why did these immigrants leave their homes and what did they find? What new forms of expression developed in the urban centers to which they migrated? How did and does society view workers occupying America's lower working classes?'"
Zollar points to Toni Morrison's "Jazz," Edward P. Jones' "All Aunt Hagar's Children," and Jacob Lawrence's "Migration Series" as her inspiration for the thematic and conceptual design of the emerging production.

"All of these works share stories and images of people who moved from the South to the North with high hopes, and express the mixed emotions of the struggle of creating new communities," she said. "The resulting piece will be an abstract visual narrative that weaves these themes into the work. Collaborating with artists of various mediums, we will create a work that is rich and multilayered with elements of movement, sound and visual design."

With the receipt of her Guggenheim award, the past academic year has become an especially winning one for Zollar, who divides her time between directing Urban Bush Women and teaching in the Department of Dance at Florida State. Last November, she was named a 2008 USA Wynn Fellow in dance by the philanthropic nonprofit organization United States Artists (USA). That prestigious honor included a $50,000 unrestricted grant in recognition of her exceptional contributions to her field. In addition, "Les écailles de la memoire" (The Scales of Memory), Zollar's latest dance production with Senegal's all-male Compagnie JANT-BI, completed a widely praised international tour.

Like much of the acclaimed body of work choreographed by Zollar and performed worldwide, "Les écailles de la memoire" was developed at FSU's Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC, pronounced man-see), a dance and choreographic research center that is part of one of the premier facilities for dance in the United States. To learn more about MANCC and dance at Florida State University, visit the Web sites at dance.fsu.edu and www.mancc.org/home.html.

The 2009 Guggenheim competition is the 85th annual contest sponsored by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for U.S. and Canadian citizens and permanent residents (a second annual contest names Fellows in Latin America and the Caribbean). For additional information, go to www.gf.org.