Urban Bush Women

Haint Blu performs outside. There is gravel and uneven terrain and patrons are expected to move and stand during the show. Chairs will be provided to those who need them. The Yard also recommends bringing bug spray.

If you have accessibility needs, call us at 508-645-9662.

Haint Blu performances will happen rain or shine. The Yard and Urban Bush Women want to provide every opportunity for audiences to experience the work as intended, on the land of Orange Peel Bakery in Aquinnah. In the event that rain or lightning makes that option impossible, the work will move to The Yard’s theater in Chilmark. A rain call will be made by 3 pm on performance dates, and all ticket buyers will be notified by email if the performance location changes.

Also, due to an increase in local covid cases, we strongly encourage mask-wearing and will have some available at the performances. 

Over the last two years Urban Bush Women has worked closely with members of The Island community to develop a site specific version of their work, Haint Blu. *

Urban Bush Women returns to The Yard for their final visits this year. Their first visit, April 26th - May 1st, will focus on process, creation, and their continued community engagement. They will perform their finished work during their second visit this year, July 31st-August 14th, 2023.

Urban Bush Women, founded in 1984 by choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, is a Brooklyn-based performance ensemble and dance company under the artistic direction of Chanon Judson and Mame Diarra Speis. Urban Bush Women seeks to bring the untold and under-told histories and stories to light through dance. They do this from a woman-centered perspective and as members of the African Diaspora community in order to create a more equitable balance of power in the dance world and beyond.

Haint Blu is an ensemble dance-theater work steeped in memory and magic. Known as the color that Southern families paint their front porches to ward off bad spirits, Haint Blu uses performance as a center and source of healing, taking us through movement into stillness and rest. It is an embodied look into familial lines and the movements, histories, and stories of our elders and ancestors. It reflects on what has been lost across generations and what can be recovered. Haint Blu takes us to the magical place where spirits share their legacies, journey onward, and leave the thick residue of their knowing behind. Haint Blu is inspired by SCAT!, Urban Bush Women’s musical theater work in development. 

Urban Bush Women Holistic Workshop

Haint Blu investigates sustainability practices and holistic healing that has helped communities thrive and imagines how those might restore our own bodies and minds in the present. This participatory workshop focuses on self-care, rejuvenation, and (re-) constructing healthful images of ourselves and our communities. As we move, share stories, and discuss holism practices from food choices to daily stress relief, Urban Bush Women BOLD Facilitators (Builders, Organizers, and Leaders through Dance) offer simple tools for reinhabiting our bodies and reinforcing holism from the inside out. We also bring out and affirm the wisdom that is already in the group, fostering resource exchange and building community. The goal is to bring ourselves to balance, thereby bringing our families and communities to balance as well. No dance or fitness experience is necessary...just a body and a willingness to exhale!

August 2nd at 10:30 am at The Yard

If planning to attend a performance or class please review our Covid and Box Office policies.

Photo Credit: Urban Bush Women by Larry Glick.

For more please visit

Website: www.urbanbushwomen.org
Instagram: @ubwdance
Facebook: @urbanbushwomen
Twitter: @ubwdance

Haint Blu is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Project co-commissioned by The Yard, Live Arts Miami, the Hopkins Center for the Arts, and Williams College. The Creation Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: www.npnweb.org

Initial Haint Blu creative community partners include Live Arts Miami and Miami Dade College in partnership with Hampton House, New Orleans Coalition including Junebug Productions, Ashe Center and the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center, Berkshires Coalition including MASS MoCA, Jacob's Pillow, and Williams College Dance Department, The Yard and the Community of Martha's Vineyard. Haint Blu has also received commissioning support from Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth, NPN Creation Fund, LMCC's Residency Program, Arts & Culture on Governors Island, and Lumberyard's Technical Rehearsal Program

Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.