When Donald Byrd’s “The Minstrel Show Revisited” is presented at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts Wednesday, Oct. 28 through Friday, Oct. 30, it will be a perfect example, not of art imitating life, but of art illuminating life. The 1991 Bessie Award-winning dance/theater production not only will take a satirical look at the derogatory song-and-dance tradition of minstrelsy but also will shine an uncompromising spotlight on the scars of racial, religious and sexual bigotry that persist today.
Although the racially motivated slaying of a young Black man, Yusef Hawkins, was the original impetus for the creation of the piece, Byrd says recent events, including the rise of the Black Lives Matter campaign triggered by Eric Garner’s chokehold death, the Ferguson shooting of Michael Brown and the Trayvon Martin slaying, have prompted him to revise his dance/theater production. With traditional music and popular music from the period by Scott Joplin and Stephen Foster, “The Minstrel Show Revisited” will also feature original music from Mio Morales. Because Byrd’s provocative dance/theater piece grew out of that unique intersection of culture, politics and a strong sense of community, its brutal honesty has ignited audiences with remarkable, razor-sharp choreography while engaging them in a parody of the infamous minstrel shows of a century ago.
Designed to make a profound statement about both past and present racism, the first act offers the historic minstrel show, Byrd explains, that uniquely American form of 1840s theatre featuring all male, all white troupes dressed in shabby, tattered costumes with blackened faces and exaggerated upper and lower lips. As Langston Hughes points out in his book “Black Magic: A Pictorial History of the Negro in American Entertainment,” it took 25 years before Blacks gained access to the minstrel show.
Byrd’s work cuts right to the heart of this power of racial stereotypes, with, he says, “the historic minstrel show in the first act, then in the second act, you move into the 20th century.”
He continues, “For me it makes it really relevant … I find that audiences think it’s still relevant even though I was hoping it would not be so relevant.”
Byrd’s “The Minstrel Show Revisited” is both relevant and thought provoking. In fact, so much so, he says, that some audiences in other cities have “just had a fit” and wanted to jump in and comment even while it was being performed. In the past, in one city Byrd had to stop the show, come out onstage and cool things down by letting the audience vent before the performance could resume. Since then, he’s instituted post- or pre-show discussions. In fact, for the New York performance, Byrd says, “‘The Minstrel Show Revisited’ questions and critiques the 19th Century black-faced entertainment genre whose legacy is still felt today and continues to play a significant role in cultural stereotyping. So Beyond the Stage, a series of pre-and post-show conversations, will be held each evening.”
Byrd says, “The black-faced mask of minstrel shows is a lingering image from America’s past that still inflicts wounds today through its psychic hold … In the future, if we are to be free from its terrible grip, we must confront it boldly and courageously by staring back into its face and laughing at the absurdity of its representation until it no longer has the power to hurt us. Only then will it be vanquished and we are free to be.”
Donald Byrd is a noted choreographer whose work achieved international visibility with the creation of the “Harlem Nutcracker” and a Tony Award nomination for his 2006 choreography of Broadway’s “The Color Purple.” He’s also very prolific, having created more than 80 modern dance works for his own groups, as well as other companies, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and the Joffrey Ballet. He was a fellow at the Institute of the Arts and Civic Dialogue at Harvard University for three years. His unbounded appetite to explore the arts has fueled his artistic vision for Spectrum Dance Theater since 2002 and has evolved the company into one of regional and national significance.
During our recent conversation, Byrd talked about his evolution as an artist, noting that when he first started choreographing, critics identified him with the downtown, experimental dance world rather than associate him with a host of African-American choreographers dealing overtly with key political and life-and-death issues plaguing our communities. But, over the years, Byrd says, that perception has changed and despite the fact that it might have confused some folks, he says many more get it. “I’m a Black choreographer,” he states, “and as a Black choreographer I can express anything about not only my personal experience but the American experience and any world view that I want. I am not diminished by being a Black choreographer.”
Whether you agree with or doubt the validity of that conviction you should come see “The Minstrel Show Revisited” at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, Oct. 28 through Oct 30.