BY SYLVIE WOODS, LEAD WRITER (NSW)
Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker may be one of the world’s best-loved ballets. But in 2019, derogatory racial stereotyping, and use of ‘Yellowface’, is wearing out its welcome.
Phil Chan and Georgina Pazcoguin’s movement Final Bow for Yellowface is consolidating conversations, resources, and pledges to eliminate yellowface and other problematic racial stereotyping in The Nutcracker, and in portrayals across the artform.
Here, we interview Georgina of the New York City Ballet – one of the founders of Final Bow for Yellowface.
Georgina, how has your lived experience of being an Asian-American ballet dancer empowered you to participate in this conversation about racial representation in ballet?
My lived experience as a biracial Asian-American ballerina has helped figuratively and literally colour the conversation on and off stage. I am committed to creating a space for other dancers to talk, and share their experiences around race. Through my own journey, I have worked to articulate the perspective of a female artist that is rarely heard, acknowledged, or credited, yet critical to understanding the whole picture of where the arts are.
A big part of this work is acknowledging and using my own privilege; I have been able to successfully pursue a career in ballet and navigate in this space as an Asian-American. As a result, I feel a sense of responsibility to make the environment more welcoming, more open, more equitable for people who look like me, both onstage and off, so that I can share my joy of dance with as many people as possible.
There is power that comes with my position as an insider in the ballet world: the director of a ballet company can’t dismiss me as a disgruntled audience member who doesn’t understand how we do things, but can instead see me as a colleague who wants to make our work and our field better. I’m inspired by people who use their power for positive change, and I hope that I can lead by example as well.
I think it’s important to acknowledge that cultural context matters. We have a unique history of racial relations in the United States that other communities might not share. What might come off as offensive to an Asian-American might not even register as offensive to a person from China; they have not born the social consequences of racial stereotypes as the majority in their country. My place as an Asian-American specifically helps me navigate this conversation for us here in America.
How has the Final Bow for Yellowface movement ‘consolidated’ the conversation about yellowface and racial mockery? When did it begin, on a large scale, as far as you’re aware?
In our initial conversations with ballet companies across the country, what we found was that a lot of folks were already starting to have this conversation: Adam Sklute refreshed the Chinese dance in Ballet West’s production by the Christensen brothers for their 50th anniversary in 2003, Peter Boal made quiet changes to Pacific Northwest Ballet’s production of Balanchine’s Nutcracker in 2015 response to Seattle’s conversation around Yellowface in The Mikado, so it’s been something that has been talked about already, but not on a large, national scale.
By consolidating the conversations through Final Bow for Yellowface, it became a great way to acknowledge the leaders in our field who talk the talk when it comes to positive diversity work, and inspire other people who might not have considered these issues to take a closer look at their own productions.
Now that the conversation has received wide attention, it is our hope that performing arts troupes of any size or budget are empowered with the tools to respectfully produce work from the Western performing arts canon that may contain outdated representations of race. The conversation goes much deeper than The Nutcracker.
So companies and individuals can approach you and Phil for information about culturally respectful representation. Is that how the educational component of the movement works?
Yes! The sites feature some basic history and tools to inspire further discussion. We’re working on developing best practices for arts organisations when dealing with outdated representations of race in beloved classic works of art.
We have also been consulting with performing arts organisations as our time allows: Phil is headed off to work with Ballet West on a revival of Balanchine’s Le Chant du Rossignol based on a “China” of Hans Christian Andersen’s imagination.
Let’s turn to the other side of this conversation – the pushback against the movement from ‘purists’. How does the view of purists – essentially that it is important to adhere to tradition in art – weigh up against the importance of inclusive and respectful representation, in your view?
Some people have expressed their concern that this movement is changing the original intention of an artist. However, in an era of increased political correctness, my fear is that works with strong artistic merit but don’t fit the social norms of the times will be thrown out. How do we keep the baby while throwing out the bathwater?
I believe there should be a way to preserve and present works of art in a way that is respectful to all humanity, and that speak to universal human truths. When we can make a work reflect that, it then becomes a work of art for everyone.
The beauty of the performing arts is that each show is different. A show doesn’t exist until the audience sits down, and the performers go out on stage and breathe life into the original texts. An inevitable part of this process is accepting that change is a natural part of the performing arts. Othello today is not performed the same way it was in Shakespeare’s time. Puccini might not even recognize the modern stagings of some of his operas today. If someone doesn’t want to accept change in the performing arts, I would advise them to enjoy archival recordings from bygone eras, and only come to live theatre to enjoy new interpretations.
You’ve had an incredible amount of support. Of course, we’re contacting you from Australia. From where else in the world has the movement received support?
Phil and I are so thankful and appreciative of the support we’ve received from across the globe. We’ve had people signing our pledge from dozens of countries (including many from Australia!) and hosted specific conversations with companies in Canada and the United Kingdom about adopting a framework to improve their own representations of race.
Overall, I’m optimistic that when companies begin to explore presenting nuanced characters over cheap caricatures, audiences will have a greater empathy for people different than themselves at a time when we all need to be seeing and understanding each other better.
Sign the pledge and commit to “eliminating outdated and offensive stereotypes of Asians (Yellowface) on our stages” on the Final Bow for Yellowface website.
What does this story mean to you?
If you like, you can say thanks to Sylvie for volunteering her time for arts journalism. No amount too much or little.
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Images supplied. Phil and Georgina captured by Kenneth Edwards.
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