Category — BAM Urban Bush Women

“Les Ecailles De La Memoire”, better understood as “The Scales of Memory” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, better known as “BAM”, was a disconcerting piece of African interpretive dance. [Read more →]

Performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Urban Bush women displayed African American culture and traditions as well as the struggle that came with African Diaspora, migration of Africans to America and later on to the world, through expressive dance performances. For many members of the audience like me, it was difficult to understand the story of the dance performance.  Only in the end did I realize that there was no plot. Without sufficient introduction in the beginning of the performance, Urban Bush women confused its audience. [Read more →]

I’m always excited for dance performances.  They inspire me, send shivers down my spine and keep me stick straight in anticipation of what comes next.  That is unless they’re bad.  Then I get monumentally disappointed and feel ass though the life was drained out of me during the performance.  I went into the Bush Women performance kind of wary, trying not to get my hopes up too high and because of my fellow students doubt was permeating my usual enthusiasm.  [Read more →]

As soon as I saw the stage light up at BAM, my imagination was captivated. The music and light from the first scene created a serene atmosphere and I was reminded of the ocean, as if the dancers themselves were placed on the shores of Africa. When I watch dance performances, my mind usually lingers, and linger it did in a sense, but my eyes were still drawn to the stage. My favorite part of the performance, done by the Urban Bush Women and Compagnie Jant-Bi, was when a group of guys came on stage. This was partly because from afar, before that I could not entirely tell which of the performers were male or female. The men danced raucously but with graceful and synchronized movements. [Read more →]

Urban Bush women, the scales of Memory, is a very symbolic dance performance. The name can be a little confusing because “bush women” would imply an emphasis on nature, but urban gives us the mental image of city life. This confusion that I had when I read the title was the same level of confusion that I had during the performance. Throughout the entirety of the performance I had trouble understanding what, if anything, was going on. The dancing was very entertaining but it was hard to appreciate it when the symbolic meanings were completely lost on me. [Read more →]

Urban Bush Women and Compagnie Jant-Bi, as a part of the 2008 Next Wave Festival, collaborated on the production of Les écailles de la mémoire, or The Scales of Memory.  Sadly, despite the involvement of award winning choreographers and world-renown dance companies, Les écailles de la mémoire proves be a disjunctive work that is far less than the sum of its parts. [Read more →]

Dance is difficult to interpret and is subjective to each viewer. However, it can be interpreted in so many ways and by so many different people that it becomes a visual sensation to watch. At the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn’s all-female Urban Bush Woman and Senegal’s all-male Compagnie Jant-Bi performed a thrilling show titled Les écailles de la Mémoire, in other words, The Scales of Memory.
[Read more →]

The Brooklyn Academy of Music’s new production Les Ecailles de la Memoire, or “The Scales of Memory,” elucidates the complicated issues of memory, love, culture among the people of the African Diaspora. It is an intercontinental production involving the Compagnie Jant-Bi from Senegal and Brooklyn’s Urban Bush Women. The mixture of dance style, language, and shared history give Les Ecailles de la Memoire its flavor; however, the desperation to develop a narrative and characters takes away from the magnificent performance. [Read more →]

When we first received news that my fellow classmates and I would be going to BAM, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, I was looking forward to a thrilling performance.  Much to my dismay I was mistaken.  I was one of the first to arrive at BAM and I noticed some of the trailers for the performance we were about to witness.  My excitement and anticipation quickly changed to dread and loathing.  Several flat screen televisions were playing a few short clips that made my stomach churn.  As much as I didn’t want to, I decided to give the Urban Bush Women a chance to impress me before I made hasty conclusions.  I entered the theater with an open mind, hoping I would be wrong about the performance. [Read more →]

media3.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/content/photo

              On a bitter cold evening my class met at BAM in Downtown Brooklyn to watch the final show of the semester, a dance performance called “Urban Bush Women”.  When I entered the building I felt a sense of awe at the beauty of the structure. BAM is a glimpse into the old Brooklyn, a place rich with culture.

[Read more →]