Jawole Zollar is a 2008 United States Artists Wynn Fellow and a recently appointed Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, she trained with Joseph Stevenson, a student of the legendary Katherine Dunham. Zollar holds a BA in dance from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and an MFA in dance from Florida State University.

In 1980, she moved to New York City to study with Dianne McIntyre at Sounds in Motion. She founded Urban Bush Women in 1984. In addition to UBW, her choreography is part of the repertory of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Philadanco, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and a number of university companies.

 

 

Zollar is the Nancy Smith Fichter tenured professor in the Dance Department of Florida State University, http://dance.fsu.edu/. She was prominently featured in the PBS Documentary “Free to Dance”, which chronicles the African American influence on modern dance. In June 2002, Zollar was awarded an honorary doctorate from Columbia College in Chicago.  Zollar was awarded a 2006 New York Dance and Performance Award, A BESSIE, for her work as choreographer/creator of "Walking With Pearl . . . Southern Diaries," a dance inspired by African American choreographer, educator and social activist, Pearl Primus.  "Southern Diaries" was also recognized by the National Endowment as an American Masterpiece: Dance - College Component.