Hollywood Soapbox features UBW’s Exhibition at Apollo

INTERVIEW: The Apollo celebrates 40 years of Urban Bush Women

by John Soltes featuring Leatrice Ellzy, Senior Director of Programming for The Apollo

Image Description: Four dancers wearing bright red, blue, and orange costumes leap with fierce energy against a clean white background. Their expressive movements and intense focus capture the power and unity of collective resistance. Photo by Hayim Heron.

The new exhibition at The Apollo that celebrates the 40-year anniversary of Urban Bush Women, the Black women-led theatrical dance company, was such a hit in its first few weeks that the Harlem venue has extended the display of artifacts and archival material through May 31. Visitors to The Apollo can enjoy these images and history lessons in the Frank and Laura Baker Gallery Space at The Apollo Stages at The Victoria. What they will find is a journey into the past of one of the most respected and influential dance companies in the United States.

“Who doesn’t want to be a part of that celebration,” said Leatrice Ellzy, senior director of programming for The Apollo. “[We] support our colleagues and this 40-year legacy of dance that they have provided us.”

“They have literally made use of all of the space, all the wall space,” Ellzy said. “They made use of the column space. Because to tell the 40-year history of Urban Bush Women, you need space. They’ve made a great use of the space in terms of posters of performances past. You get a snapshot of the people who were involved. You get a snapshot of their ethos, of what they do, how they do what they do…”