BYRD SEARCHES FOR BEAUTY.

PHILADELPHIA--On the heels of his Harlem Nutcracker, choreographer Donald Byrd is tackling another nineteenth-century ballet--The Sleeping Beauty. The prolific Brooklyn-based choreographer, who will premiere his Unusual Ellington in February at New York City's Joyce Theater, said his full-length Sleeping Beauty will be the same story but with a contemporary, multicultural twist. "My question was, how can this story reflect American society and culture at this point in time as opposed to a nineteenth-century Russian idea of beauty?" says Byrd.

To find his answer, Byrd hosted three Town Hall forums this summer to find out how people define beauty. The sessions were held in Boston, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia. The resulting discussions proved illuminating for the choreographer. "In Brooklyn, the surprising thing was how this notion of Eurocentric beauty as the ideal has really damaged black women and how a lot of black women ... still can't help wanting some part of that," he says. "Boston brought up issues about looking at male beauty, about our honest reactions to beauty versus ugliness and people's attraction to (and discomfort in talking about) the same sex."

The choreographer said the discussions will show up in his production's characters. "Look at the fairies, for example. Carabosse is really like one of the African-American women we heard from with dark skin and nappy hair who has always felt put down, left out," he says.

The Philadelphia discussion focused on aesthetics of beauty as well as on defining beauty in movement and music. It coincided with "The Melding of Traditions," a collaborative project among Byrd's company, the Pennsylvania Ballet, Philadanco, and Barbara Weisberger.

Panelist Virginia Johnson, former star of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, noted that while most discussions about beauty had focused on the visual aspect of beauty, she, as a performer, considered beauty a spiritual experience unaffected by outside influences. "(I was) a black woman in America studying to be a ballerina in the sixties when there were no black women performing with American companies," she explains. "[We were told] we didn't have the right bodies. We didn't have the right temperament. But you know, I loved it. There was something about ballet that spoke to me. I think beauty is a way of connecting our physical self, our spiritual self, and our cultural self."

Byrd said he will be hosting more discussions as his company tours this season. Sleeping Beauty premieres next season.

Karyn D. Collins (The writer was a member of the panel for the Philadelphia Town Hall.)