Finding beauty in discomfort: Taylor Mac pushes boundaries with historical program at The Clarice
This blog post is by Emily Schweich, junior broadcast journalism major.
Taylor Mac strutted on stage in sparkly heels, clad in a shimmery gold tunic with a tulle bustle, an asymmetrical military-style jacket, a rainbow boa and a headdress reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty.
It wasn’t long before Mac singled out audience members to join in onstage. “There’s no forcing, just missed opportunities,” Mac said with a wink, although nobody said no to the invitation.
With each song, judy “let go” of a 20th century value or principle that judy felt was no longer serving us – from the patriarchy to the “oppressive nature of fantasy” to commercialization.
Accompanied by pianist Matt Ray, Mac, who uses the gender pronoun judy, performed one song from each decade of the 20th century. Their performance at The Clarice was an abbreviated version of judy’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music. Through these extended, participatory concerts, Mac explores how imperfection can foster community.
With each song, judy “let go” of a 20th century value or principle that judy felt was no longer serving us – from the patriarchy to the “oppressive nature of fantasy” to commercialization.
Some of these values came with history lessons. During “I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier,” Mac told the audience how President Roosevelt retorted by rewriting the lyrics to actually encourage military participation. As Mac sang Irving Berlin’s “All Alone,” judy had the audience mimic the noise of Berlin’s fellow tenement dwellers – and judy wasn’t afraid to single out one audience member who was on her phone during the performance.
Mac expressed judy’s hesitation to sing Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam,” which addresses the black civil rights movement, because judy feared culturally appropriating it. But after hearing people casually humming the song at a shopping mall, judy realized the song needed to be revisited to highlight both society’s progress and the issues that still plague us today. In a nod to the LGBTQ civil rights movement, judy added, “everyone knows about Indiana,” a reference to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Other “abandoned” values focused more on gender. Mac referred to the performance as a “radical fairy realness ritual,” a reference to a movement to redefine queer consciousness through references to pagan paradigms and traditions. These ancient rituals caused discomfort, judy said, a feeling judy sought to replicate through judy’s performance.
For example, Mac pulled three older white men onstage to represent the patriarchy while judy sang to them. judy also confronted gender representation and explained judy’s own pronoun choice with a performance of “Masculine Women! Feminine Men!”
History was revisited and boundaries were blurred with Taylor Mac’s performance, leaving the audience a bit baffled but ready to “dream the culture forward” – whatever that may mean.