The dancers screamed and the whole audience screamed back, but I am not sure who actually screamed first. It was a spontaneous response to a celebration of newness. For a long time, the dancers or “initiates” in Nick Cave’s Feat. changed from wearing their street clothes to the otherworldly sculptural forms that Nick Cave created. I was passing out lollipops and mints to my children to keep them quiet as the fantastic and regal “soundsuits” slowly took shape.   During all of it, a gospel choir belted songs proclaiming, “Fix me Jesus so I can stand,” “I am chosen,” “Sons & daughters of the great I am,” and “God has made me.” The music narrated the transformation taking place on stage as it has fueled other endeavors for justice and change. After the ceremonious preparations, the dancers arose and moved across the stage as the choir sang “I know I’ve been changed.”  That’s when they came together and charged to the edge of the stage screaming.  And because it was the most profound celebration of change and newness I have experienced, I screamed too!

I didn’t expect Nick Cave’s Feat. performance to resonate so deeply in my soul.  I went to Nashville with my children to see the performance and exhibition, Feat., because I am enthralled with how Nick Cave’s soundsuits move and the photographs of them in any landscape. I saw his remarkable installation at Mass Moca last summer that is pictured above. He created an ambitious and commanding installation for the museum’s famous football field sized room, but without using any soundsuits. The soundsuits are sculptures that engulf a person, abstract movement, and transform rhythms. When they are worn, you cannot tell if the person inside is big or small, black or white, male or female, etc. They are bizarre and captivating,  lively and mysterious.

Feat. is more than the soundsuits. It is an inspiring picture of change that is rooted in both body and spirit. The three part performance pictures the struggle, process, and hope in a journey towards wholeness and unity. Change, whether it’s personal or social, does not come easily. In 1963, George Wallace, Governor of Alabama, proclaimed, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.”  He was wrong, but sometimes all I feel like it will be here in Alabama is the forever.  Feat. enabled us to feel and celebrate the wholeness of a person not judged, judging, segregated, or denied.  Resilience to solve problems that are bigger than one person or even one generation require serious beauty, like Feat., to fuel remembering, celebration, and new ideas.

You can watch the Nashville performance online here.  The exhibition, Feat., is up at the Frist Art Museum through June 24th. I will write a second post about getting to that with the children in your life!