Nora Chipaumire and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar Premiere New Dance Theater Work

Choreographers Nora Chipaumire and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar lend their distinct perspectives and innovative movement styles to visible, a new dance theater work commissioned by Harlem Stage and produced by Zollar's company Urban Bush Women (UBW) that has its world premiere at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse October 12-15, 2011.

For the past two years the celebrated dance makers have collaborated on the work, which explores the loneliness of being a foreigner - of being "other." Inspired by the narratives of immigrants' experiences in the United States and of African-Americans who traveled to the Midwest and north during the Great Migration, the work was informed by the personal narratives of the choreographers and cast. Chipaumire is an immigrant from Zimbabwe and Zollar's family came to Kansas City, Missouri, during the Great Migration. America as a symbol of freedom, democracy and individuality is a strong point of departure for this work.

An international array of dancers is featured in visible: Souleymane Badolo from the West African country of Burkina Faso; former UBW company member Ca.Dé from Guadeloupe; Marguerite Hemmings from Jamaica; Judith Jacobs from Holland; historian John O. Perpener II from Washington, D.C.; and Kota Yamazaki, who comes from Japan and who also serves as the show's costume designer. The work features percussionists Bashir Shakur and David L. Alston.

"Visible attempts to reveal the conflicted nature of my experience, the loneliness of the foreigner, the constant push and pull between homeland and new frontier. It explores the idea of community versus the individual," Chipaumire said.

"This is a search for depth, a search for story, a search for language and then innovation within each of these," Zollar said.

Visible resonates deeply with Harlem Stage's mission to develop and support new works by artists of color that explore social justice and other issues of cultural import. In addition to being workshopped at three locations across the country, visible had additional development in two residencies at Harlem Stage in the past two years. Harlem Stage will host the show's final technical residency during the two weeks leading up to its world premiere.

"Harlem Stage was drawn to commissioning this magnificent work because of the creative talent of the artists, their deep connections to social justice, and their explorations of dance forms and content. Those elements provide a rich and interesting artistic work that is neither clichéd or expected," Harlem Stage Executive Director Patricia Cruz said. "Culturally and politically, America is dealing so much with issues around immigration, migration, citizenship, and its sense of place in the world. Visible reflects those issues on a conceptual level."

Chipaumire, Zollar and UBW have a long history working together and with Harlem Stage. The company has presented its work at Harlem Stage since the 1980s. As fellow choreographers and dancers, Chipaumire and Zollar collaborated in performance on a duo program in 2009 at Harlem Stage. Chipaumire is a former associate artistic director for UBW and has served as a mentor for the past two years in Harlem Stage's E-Moves dance series. In that capacity, Chipaumire mentored the young dancer Marguerite Hemmings, who now is featured in visible.

Chipaumire is the recipient of a 2008 New York Dance and Performance Award (the Bessie) for choreographic work, and a 2007 Bessie in the performance category for her work with UBW, and other awards. Zollar founded UBW in 1984 and received a 2006 Bessie for her choreography. She is the Nancy Smith Fichter Professor of Dance and the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor at Florida State University, is a recent United States Artists Wynn Fellow, and fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Chipaumire and Zollar will discuss visible in a free public conversation September 25 from 2-3:30 p.m. at Barnard College, which sponsored the final creative residency in August. For more information, please visit http://barnard.edu/events/visible-inside-story.

Visible runs October 12-15, 2011, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse at 150 Convent Ave. at 135th Street. Tickets are $35. For more information, please visit http://www.harlemstage.org. 

SUPPORTERS AND PARTNERS
Harlem Stage is the Lead Commissioner for visible through its WaterWorks program. WaterWorks receives lead sponsorship from the Time Warner Foundation; additional support is provided by The Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Lambent Foundation Fund of the Tides Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts.