Maybe it occurred with the election of Barack Obama. Or the murder of Trayvon Martin, or the implementation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or the election of you-know-who. But at some point in recent American memory, the often talked-about, ever-elusive “national conversation about race” stopped being a think-piece phrase and turned into an actual daily reality. As a nation, engaging in the conversation is unquestionably (a) critical to combatting deeply rooted systemic social injustice and (b) really, really unpleasant.
With so many bitter pills to be swallowed about segregation, gun violence, racial discord, and attitudes toward immigration, a little joy goes a long way, and there’s joy to be found here in spades. During preshow entertainment for the program to be staged in Austin’s La Follette Park, M.A.D.D. Rhythms founder Bril Barrett—a charismatic, crowd-working entertainer—invited audiences to play a call-and-response clapping game to his exhilarating tap performance, a precursor to EmpoWOMENt, a piece for eight female dancers choreographed by Barrett and Star Dixon. During Yuri Basho Lane’s beatbox musical short Make Peace, a toddler adjacent to me stomped to the rhythm, her light-up sneaker soles pulsating flashes to the beat. A step routine directed by Sir Taylor and performed by the Example Setters youth ensemble plays out as part drill, part revival, one that reminds listeners to hold themselves and others to account. In the most literal interpretation of peace, Laura Biagi, accompanied by drummer Tolga Yenilmez, guides audiences through a breathing and meditation exercise to an enchanting soundscape based on the alphabets of four languages.
Thu 10/5-Sat 10/7, 7-9 PM Hamilton Park Fieldhouse 513 W. 72nd
Thu 10/19-Sat 10/21, 7-9 PM Kelvyn Park Fieldhouse 4438 W. Wrightwood
Thu 11/2-Sat 11/4, 7-9 PM La Follette Park Fieldhouse 1333 N. Wrightwood
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