Dance company to bring ‘participatory event’ to Penn State
Urban Bush Women was founded in 1984 as a woman-centered company with a mission to tell the stories of disenfranchised people through dance and performance. The company’s members are not only artists but activists, inspiring change-making conversations through deeply relevant messaging.
Chanon Judson has been involved with the company in some way, shape or form since she first auditioned in 2001. Now, she’s back as both a performer and choreographer for “Hair & Other Stories,” which will be presented by the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State on Thursday.
For Urban Bush Women’s latest show, the company originally intended to revitalize a previous, somewhat similar production from 2001.
“(We) realized that wasn’t going to be a work that would allow us to respond to what is relevant in the times right now in regards to the black hair landscape, in regards to the social and political conversations that are happening or that we want to happen in this country,” Judson said.
The result, “Hair & Other Stories,” is a work that “debates the center of perceived American ‘values’ and celebrates the persevering narrative of the African Diaspora,” according to the company’s website, with inspiration sourced from personal narratives in the performers’ own communities and families, social media and even YouTube. It explores the “disquieting perceptions of body image, race, gender identity, economic inequities and what constitutes freedom, liberation and release in our everyday struggles ... .”
Addressing such a handful of mammoth issues took time — “Hair & Other Stories” was a two-year journey in the making. There was a lot of research on the back end, as Judson said that Urban Bush Women is a research-based company, though that research takes shape in many ways.
Audiences can expect a “participatory event,” Judson said.
“This is not a performance that asks folks to watch passively. We want people involved. Sometimes physically, but oftentimes, it’s the rhetorical questions or statements that we put out there that will stir things up, agitate and land on the hearts of audience members. We want people to actively be thinking and doing,” she said. “The big hope is that the piece will spark conversations that people are having around their hair stories and, more dominantly, oppression.”
Often, when talking to audience members after Urban Bush Women shows, Judson said she and her fellow performers find that there aren’t necessarily a lot of questions for them about the technical aspects of a piece, but more about the messaging of the show and how it relates to audience members’ own lives.
“I think that’s great,” she said. “We want people to be more reflective on their own experiences and how the information we share pairs with their own life experiences. That’s more impactful for us as performers. ... We want folks to continue to think about how (the piece) sits with them as opposed to where we get the costumes or something like that.”
After the show, Judson hopes audience members carry the conversation into their communities, whether it’s with their family or friends. “Don’t let the work you’re invited to stop at the theater.”
Urban Bush Women will also host a “Dance for Every Body” event on Wednesday that’s free and open to the public. It’s being held at 7 p.m. in the State College Municipal Building. Reservations are required for the one-hour movement class and can be made by emailing mde13@psu.edu.
An “Artistic Viewpoints” discussion with company members will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Eisenhower Auditorium.
If you go
What: Urban Bush Women’s “Hair & Other Stories”
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Eisenhower Auditorium, University Park
Info: cpa.psu.edu
This story was originally published March 12, 2019 at 9:24 AM.