Review: Embodied by ATX Artists for Social Impact
by David Glen Robinson

 

Cut to the chase. The highlight of this show was jazz singer Beau Briar’s delivery of two classics of 30s-40s jazz, “God Bless the Child” by Billie Holliday and Arthur Herzog, Jr. and “Lush Life” by Billy Strayhorn.

 

Lights faded up on Briar, of compact build, in a curiously ill-fitting suit of mismatched separates that a well-heeled man of the 1930s might have worn to clubs. All of it was under perfectly coifed platinum blonde hair, medium length. His hair expressed the first hint of gender ambiguity. That uncertainty was elevated by Briar’s feminizing, almost cartoonlike face makeup. The tones and shades of the makeup lacked blending: Briar intended for us to see it and its application on the face. Painted designs stood out over both eyes, from the forehead down onto the cheeks. Those were shaped almost like playing card designs worn by performers in European casinos or commedia dell’arte actors of the 1600s.

 

Briar stayed in his lane, in his groove, playing the jazz crooner, turning toward pianist Matthew Zelenin during the piano solo and languidly snapping his fingers throughout. Briar gave us strong contrasts in imagery. Both the songs offered the dark reads of forbidden love and individuals who were just a bit different. Altogether, Briar’s singing and performance were delicious. 

 

Briar’s voice has great range and shows perfect preparation for stage performance. Especially enjoyable was Briar’s holding his tone smoothly through the ending of both songs, the final element of our transport to smoky, exclusive nightclubs of the 1930s.

 

That presentation summarized the theme of the entire show “Embodied: Celebrating 55 Years of Austin Pride.” Pride, of course, refers to gay life. We might throw in, of late, nonbinary gender identity and transgenderism.

 

The show brimmed over with content generally and loosely on the theme of gay pride and Pride Month. A city council member read an official proclamation declaring the previous week just past Gay Pride Week, and the proclamation was proudly displayed from the stage.

 

Embodied: Celebrating 55 Years of Austin Pride was the work of partnered producers Paolo Dumancas of ATX Jazz Orchestra and Caitlin Elledge of Capital Contemporary Ballet. Together they lead ATX Artists for Social Impact and gave us last year’s Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker at Brazos Hall downtown. It wasn’t just dance and music. Embodied filled the KMFA building with art, displays, food, and demonstrations, including more music out on the terrace.

 

Caitlin Elledge’s work in dance, spoken word, painting, poetry, and video contributed heavily with direct statements on the theme of gay pride, gender, and body issues. Some of their poetry is highly quotable:

 

Cover me in femininity

Hiding me

Tucking me away under a guise of normativity

 

and

 

Cover me in femininity

A confusion of my being

A figure that is mine

Yet I’ve never owned it.

 

and

 

Like the meals I don’t eat

Except for grapefruit

Whose acid, Mom says, will melt this flesh

On my legs

And my stomach

And my arms

And my chest

Is my flesh better now that it’s gone?

 

This poetry blended with dance and spoken word and three large paintings in the lobby, about which Elledge commented during a brief chat before the show, “Many diverse forms inspire each other.” We agree 100%.

 

Elledge’s short dance video “All This Flesh” was projected in its entirety later in the show. The film had many closeups under strong lighting of uniformly white-clad dancers. The filmed dance of contemporary ballet was divided into four sections, each accompanied on the digital program by one of Elledge’s poems, partly quoted above. But the music played over the video wasn’t vocal but string quartets by Ben Johnston recorded by the Kepler Quartet. Would that further audio editing could have placed the poetry and the music over the video.

 

Anna Bauer and Jairus Carr, who perform with KDH Dance and other Austin companies, provided a contemporary/modern dance component to this highly diverse show. They brought a high-flying, energetic performance to a narrative story about twin brothers in the risky enterprise of migration. In Leo Briggs’s choreography hey seemed actually to be flying. Their dance performances are never to be missed.

 

The show was riven with variety. It featured “Pinoy Cabaret” with Alexa Capareda and Katrina Saporsantos, a words, music and dance feature that proceeded hilariously and rapidly in other languages. Benjamin Dia arranged and performed the music. I couldn’t follow the words, but that did not matter. It was a great piece, and I’d gladly see it again.

 

Both East Indian dances and samba had places in the show. In addition, Imani Aanu danced a tribute to Yoruba spirituality. She wore a blue-themed floor-length gown that looked and moved like the ocean. Here was a costume superb in concept, execution, and performance.

 

The show gave us musical pieces, largely jazz by gifted musicians and singers. The total list of performers is too long for me to enumerate and describe. See the digital program on the ATX Artists for Social Impact website for the complete list with additional stylized pen and ink drawings by Caitlin Elledge.

 

Embodied may be imagined as a fluid mosaic, its component parts melting and flowing into each other and melding, transforming into other artistic modes and images, becoming other flavors, and presenting a succession of poems on the meaning of  being human.

 

These artists deserve large followings.

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Embodied
by Austin Artists for Social Impact
ATX Artists for Social Impact

June 27, 2026

Draylen Mason studio, KMFA, Austn