The Mark of a Future- Thinking Leader
In 2010/2011, I was the Executive and Artistic Director of the Riverside Theatre in New York City. It was the 50th anniversary of the theatre and I recall thinking that there were extraordinary women of color in the arts who should be celebrated. I created An Evening with Women of Excellence in the Arts to celebrate women of distinction and all they brought to the artistic world.
2011 was the year I met the founder of Urban Bush Women Jawole Willa Jo Zollar—one of the Women of Excellence to celebrate. She was joined that evening by the founding member of Sweet Honey in the Rock, Carol Millard, producer and educator Dr. Gloria Van Scott, award-winning poet and playwright Ntozake Shange, and Broadway and television actress Tamara Tunie. With such outstanding talent, we were gifted with gems of priceless wisdom.
Jawole Photo by Rick McCollough
A recent New York Times article reminded me why I’ve always been a huge fan of Urban Bush Women. There is a physicality that speaks to their strength and a grace that accentuates freedom in their movement. Had I pursued dance as a career, (a momentary glimmering), this was the kind of company that would have attracted me.
At 73, Jawole is retiring and has selected two of her dancers to take the helm and continue the 40-year legacy she has built. Her final production, Scat, has an original jazz score by trombonist Craig Harris with inspiration coming from such jazz icons as Charlie Parker and Count Basie. What I didn’t realize in 2011 was how much jazz ensembles were a model for Jawole’s company approach.
It was wonderful to see our Jazz Leadership Project (JLP) principles and practices leap off the page as Jawole shared her perspective on Urban Bush Women’s longevity and success:
JLP Practice of Improvisation: Wise spontaneity for effective response and decision-making
Jowale tells the company to investigate to prevent homogeneity. “There's a structure but if I do something a little different you have to respond to that. Sometimes I don't use the term improvisation. I call it living in the moment.”
JLP Practice of Your Sound: Identifying and maintaining consistency of voice and style
Jowale expects a strong solo voice, so dancers can “hold a point of view that is unique, that they have a sound.”
JLP Principle of Shared Leadership: Respecting and leveraging the leadership capacity and potential of each member
Viewing every dancer as an active member, Jawole has created a space that supports the deepening and revelation of their gifts.
JLP Principle of Ensemble Mindset: Collaborative co-creation through collective intelligence
Newly appointed co-artistic director Mame Diarra Speis recalls that she had a “visceral experience” as she realized she could bring all of herself to the company, saying that the ensemble of Black women are “deeply different, yet in harmony with each other.”
Jawole instilled in her dancers a model of principles and practices that gave her the confidence to say that Urban Bush Women had more to say, and as leaders, her dancers were ready to carry on without her. In them, she saw a “bold, audacious vision, different from mine, and a fearlessness.” She knew that this was what would carry the company forward. When we can look beyond ourselves and establish a container where others can thrive as they discover all that they can do, that is the mark of a future-thinking leader.
