December 21
Born Today:
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
Dancer/choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar (1950-) is the founder of Urban Bush Women (1984), a dance/theatre collective celebrating black female voices and experiences. Zollar studied Afro-Cuban dance as a youth and graduated from Florida State University with an MFA in Dance. Her movement style is steeped in the combination of modern dance, African dance, and social dance styles. Her socially-conscious pieces, like Hair Stories (2001) are presented using movement, autobiographical storytelling, music, and vocalization.
Also Born Today: Ballet dancer André Eglevsky (1917-1977) performed with both Ballets Russes companies in the 1930s and 1940s. Cuban ballet dancer and founder of the National Ballet of Cuba, Alicia Alonso (1921-2019) struggled with vision problems her entire life, but was able to perform with the help of sensitive partners. Choreographer George Faison (1945-) is best known for The Wiz (1975), a re-telling of The Wizard of Oz, made into a film in 1983. Ballerina Paloma Herrera (1975-) danced with ABT for 24 years.
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Broadway Premiere: Billion Dollar Baby in 1945