The Daily Evergreen Review: UBW’s THIS IS RISK at Kenworthy Theater presented by The Terry Buffington Foundation

With the help of the Terry Buffington Foundation, the Urban Bush Women blend contemporary dance styles with traditional cultural practices and the music and stories of Black America.

By Eleanor Colgan | The Daily Evergreen

This past week, the Terry Buffington foundation hosted the Urban Bush Women for a week of workshops and performances on campus, culminating in a final performance last Friday at the Kenworthy Theater. 

Professor Terry Buffington is a Humanities Scholar in the department of Digital Technology and Culture. She is also the co-founder of the Terry Buffington foundation, which, according to the website, is ‘an anthropological social justice organization which promotes the culture, contributions, and history of Black America and the Black experience.’ 

“They tell stories, untold stories about black women, our lives, our lived experience,” Buffington said. 

The explosion of Black art into the mainstream, Buffington said, was reflective of a rich cultural history in Black communities and households to express through music and dance. 

“In the Black community, there is always music, whether it was church music, blues music, rock and roll, something was always going on. And people would dance,”  Buffington said. “My aunt would dance, my uncle would dance. So for my people, it’s natural. [Zollar] grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, in a house that was filled with jazz.” 

The Urban Bush Women debuted into the New York City art scene, and into an America with the problems we still face today. The Urban Bush Women go beyond performance art, they are ‘frontline activists,’ and their cache of performances address the struggles that Black women face daily.