Building Trust Through Process – A Workshop with Urban Bush Women

FirstWorks presents Urban Bush Women leading a workshop which features trust-building exercises where you learn to surrender and stay true to what is happening in the moment. We delve into movement conversations and theatrical play that require you to actively listen and speak with all of your senses. This workshop explores falling, rolling, stillness, connecting through focus, counterbalance, lifting using minimal effort, centering and integration of breath, and being attentive to our partner(s) and surroundings. It will also call participants to bring their creativity into action.

Urban Bush Women will facilitate artistic creation based on themes that emerge from the group. With an emphasis on dance, song, and the creative assets of the participants, we use various artistic genres including creative writing and visual art to process, synthesize, and communicate. You will create an artistic product reflecting both your learning and your vision for community. This workshop is a K-12 Professional Development opportunity for educators. Registration is required; space is limited. To register, email Annette Robinson at annette@first-works.org.

Urban Bush Women is an electrifying, Brooklyn-based dance troupe which galvanizes artists, activists, audiences and communities through performances, artist development, education and community engagement. As part of FirstWorks’ Artistic Icons Series, they will perform “Walking with ‘Trane,” a new live music/dance event created by the in tribute to the life of legendary jazz saxophonist John Coltrane and his seminal jazz suite, “A Love Supreme” on February 27 at the Vets.

FirstWorks’ Art Activating Community: Urban Bush Women in RI is made possible with lead support from Dance USA/The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, Brown University Creative Arts Council, RISD CSI, Carter Family Charitable Trust, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Project is presented as a Widening the Circle initiative, a partnership with the American Dance Legacy Initiative and Rites and Reason Theatre with support from Brown’s Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies. Additional partners include Artists and Scientists as Partners and The Rhythm of Change Festival.