SCAT!... The Complex Lives of
Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar
Our feet are not in concrete. They’re jubilant. Using African aesthetics to speak about the experiences of Black folk.
Not just choreographing. Channeling.
Set in a fictional jazz club, the 2025 Bessie Award-nominated SCAT!... The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar, is a dance-driven musical that tells the love story of two people making their way during the Great Migration. Through song, dance, storytelling, and an original jazz score performed by a live band, SCAT! explores what happens when dreams encounter the realities of American life in the ‘40s and ‘50s.
Conceived & Directed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
Original Music Composed by Craig Harris
Co-Choreographed by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar & Vincent Thomas in collaboration with the company
Dramaturgy by Talvin Wilks
Assistant Director & Associate Producer, Cheri L. Stokes
ON TOUR
July 1 - 5, 2026
Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival | Ted Shawn Theatre
Beckett, MA
TICKETS
"SCAT is my story. It is my family’s story. It is a personal and collective story of a family and a people, moving from the Jim Crow south during the Great Migration."
— Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Director and Choreographer, SCAT!... The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar
Unearthing history requires risk. Claiming history requires risk. Making history requires risk.
Urban Bush Women THIS IS RISK
Photo Credits: Header — Maria Baranova; Body — Courtesy of The Zollar Family, and Maria Baranova for the Fisher Center at Bard, Ed Marshall Photography