"We didn’t have any role models or people that looked like us." Tyson Goddard on Rhythmology

Tyson Goddard is a creative, producer, and performer who is all over Meanjin at the moment. He's as comfortable on stages as he is behind the scenes and has performed as a member of and helped create for the Thicc Shake Crew, The House Of Alexander, Brown Church and many more. And that's just this year. 

This month, Ty brings his latest production Rhythmology to Backbone. Rhythmology is "a celebration of the diversity of ethnic cultures [that] will explore the evolution and variation of rhythm and blues, a subculture that was birthed in African American communities and has taken root in ethnic cultures the world over.” Featuring local drag legends Thicc Shake Crew, members of ballroom house, The House of Alexander, and vocalist Garret Lyon, with choreography from Jeanya Rush and Joshua Taliani, you do not want to miss this one.

Ofa caught up with Ty this week to find out what punters can expect from Rhythmology.

Ty as his drag alter-ego, Evangeline Yen. Image: Joel Devereux

Talking with Ty, our conversation is intimate, feels super safe and a warm collision of that island style of gas bagging. I drink in every word that Ty presents and his impeccable locution, passion and energy about this new venture is contagious.

Ty states that he has been super busy of late, with events he attended over the weekend in celebration of Pride, and I manage to speak with him as he takes a moment's rest in his room late on a balmy Monday night. His voice feels strong and soft, and I lean right into his conversational prowess.

Ty starts by explaining that he secured a paid internship through Backbone Youth Arts for young producers from POC minority groups. Backbone developed a budget for young producers who are looking to cut their teeth on learning production values and skills.

Ty feels more than a learner though, and that’s what strikes me immediately about his eloquence around vision and his involvement in POC collectives pushing the limits of performance activism. Not only is he on this incline, but he is working alongside and uplifting his friends and family.

“I just always want to be doing something with the people I love”. 

The repeated motif of POC Excellence comes up frequently  as we go on to discuss the creative sparks of Rhythmology including R&B Culture and how that has interwoven the landscape of arts and influence of POC artists around the globe. 

"We didn’t have any role models or people that looked like us on Australian televisions or billboards, the closest thing was R&B artists from America. I’ve been working on other productions like Glow at Lalaland and the differences between POC and white culture is very much apparent in the music. If you went into a white club and played Tevin Campbell’s, Can we talk for a minute, it’d be seen as a vibe killer, whereas when you’re in a brown club and a slow jam comes on, everyone’s on the dance floor – slow songs mean nothing to us, ethnic cultures are activated by music and the nuances we instinctively have.” 

Image: Joel Devereux

The show is a celebration of this nostalgia and those influences.

"Rhythmology is a study of why we resonate with the things in black American culture. That’s another underlying layer to what we are saying here."

Ty is now in the final throes of preparation where he expresses all the screws that are being tightened as they head into the final days before curtains are raised. 

“The group numbers are stunning, we’re just taking time now to clean it up and get into the swing of how the show will run on the night. This is the fun part” he says, “playing a big game of barbie dolls – I know I’m in my production flow state when I’m at that stage of seeing everything as barbie dolls, hahahaha”. His voice sweetens each time he laughs. 

He goes on to share the practical elements of the preparation of the venue, the heavy lifting now that needs to take place, setting the stage and scenes and rehearsing through it. 

“A strong vision need not be micromanaged. I let artists develop their own voice and expression and, in this way, they share ownership, they become personally invested and their work ethic is on 100. I am so lucky to work with a great cast and the process has been really organic. A show's pace reveals itself in this process, it’s essentially a cabaret and it’s starting to breathe for itself, starting to feel more lived in and that is really exciting”. 

Image: Joel Devereux

The level at which Ty illuminates all the cracks and corners of what it means to produce a show like this one, shows depth, maturity and a definitive voice that yearns to be heard in Brisbane and of course around the world. I revel in the idea that producers like Ty exist and that they are working here in one of the most racially convoluted states in Australia. Thank you Ty for your work in this space, selfless, tireless and so so clever. 

Ty is of Vanuatuan decent, his family bought here generations ago as part of Blackbirding: Australia’s own story of slavery, involving the coercion of people through deception or kidnapping to work as slaves or poorly paid labourers. America’s history of slavery is what people imagine when slavery is discussed. But these stories have happened across the globe to all Indigenous communities in one form or another in the wake of colonisation's destruction. 

“The storytelling is different, but the struggles are the same. R&B culture has been birthed from a place of sadness, it has the same language as my pain, it has carried across ethnic cultures around the world and we want to celebrate that.” 

Ty talks of his stage craft, preferencing emptiness, bareness and stages that are paired back to basics. 

"Movement and lyrics are better seen then, and that’s what we want our audience to focus on. Beautiful costuming, big, beautiful moments where we can let our queerness shine."  

Not only that, Ty and the team have developed a show that's both sexy and warm that you don't want to miss. 

“Sexuality is meant to be generous; people can forget it is, but we know it is and want to express this. Rhythmology is Unapologetic Sexuality! And rightfully so. It’s a huge middle finger to the white entertainment industry. And there will be a lot of creatives there, a lot of POC people there, this show is not meant to be preachy – we have always been here.” 

Image: Joel Devereux

Ty talks excitedly of his future goals of igniting more seasons sometime in the future. Rhythmology is not only a localised event, this show is world class, a premiere of some of the most exciting movements in Queer culture in Brisbane.  Ty encourages other POC creatives to come along. 

Finally, Ty wants POC creatives to know that Arts is a feasible career and that POC have position and clout. 

"Many of our people don’t know what resources and funding is available to us. Arts can be lucrative and all the voices of the diaspora need to be heard."

You’d be a fool to miss this offering. Come sexy. 

Rhythmology hits Backbone for one night only on Friday 5 November, 2021.