It’s also so interesting to me that the Joffrey did an almost complete overhaul of their Nutcracker and kept in so many of the racist parts? Just because it’s recontextualized in the (racist) world’s fair doesn’t make the Arabian Coffee dance less racist?
I CANNOT AGREE MORE. I love the redo of the plotline for the Wheeldon version—because it's not a fever dream—but it makes me sad to see the limits of their attention to racism! While we get to see a very cool representation of an Eastern European immigrant family and there's, at least, no chopstick fingers, no yellow ballet shoes, and a sick dragon scene in their Chinese Tea, they leave the Arabian mess in. I'd say they follow the guidance on Yellowface.org for Chinese, from what I can remember. While their Arabian (I think it's actually called "Moorish Palace", which completely changes the region from West and South Asia to the Maghreb) is beautiful, it is so deeply fetishizing!
Admittedly, it has taken me a while to come around to the new version (I still am nostalgic for parts of the one I grew up with; The Waltz of the Flowers dresses especially, god I miss them, rip. I hate the candyland costumes, but alas...) but the dragon dance is such a marked improvement that it makes the “Moorish Palace” stand out even more. Especially, because based on my memory, every single other vignette has changed so much (except maybe the Venetian one?). But I also can’t imagine what the outcry would be if they had changed the tone and choreography of Arabian Coffee/ Moorish Palace more dramatically, because I know, at least among my grandparents/aunts/mom, that has always been a fan favorite. Though, that didn’t stop them from turning the Russian dance into the Buffalo Bill thing so who really knows. And if we’re changing the whole thing maybe we should just change the whole thing ESPECIALLY the racist parts.
okay, totally agree on losing waltz of the flowers (and sugarplum)! i was surprised at first but ended up liking the thematic addition of the golden statue. i, again, like it better when it isn’t as much of a fever dream.
AND YES EXACTLY. CANT AGREE MORE. i noticed that they changed spanish to venetian (??? random but honestly, beautiful gowns), and the change of russian to cowboys…. oof. i think that’s an example, actually, of russophobia. especially in trump presidency 2.0 and after the war, it’s a little too okay to shit on or change anything “russian.” (case in point: when the wore broke out, dc bartenders started changing their “moscow mules” to “Ukrainian mules.” the solidarity is cool, but what does that do for the U.S. image of THE PEOPLE OF russia?)
i’ll have more to say about switching ballets to the cowboy theme (weird it’s happened twice, no?) in part 3, but it definitely makes the weirdness of “moorish palace” more glaringly obvious. unfortunately, ballerinas’ love for the role and audiences’ love for the piece keeps folks from critical thought: the main piece of pushback i get is, “i thought it was just a beautiful dance.” “she’s not sexualized she’s strong.” it’s a lot easier to say from an audience perspective, where your creative director (for the balanchine version) isn’t encouraging you to ‘do it for the dads.’
this was such an interesting deep dive! although i've never seen the nutcracker, i've had a vague idea of its history, but didn't know how deep its racism went. i look forward to the next part!
very good read. obviously well researched and well intentioned, thank you for putting this together, i’ll be waiting for the next part with bated breath…!
This was an amazing deep dive, thanks for doing all that work Jade!
I hadn't realized how much of a tradition *Nutcraker* was. I don't know if it's just an american thing, but we don't have that in France at all. There can be productions of *Casse-Noisette*, but i can see only 2 in the past 10 years at the Paris Opera - and neither are the American version.
It's so interesting to me that you developped such a tradition around it, and that it's a child friendly show: the main excerpts i see online are from the coffee part that's not quite it.
It makes me wonder if *Nutcracker* really opens up ballet to new audiences. Instinctively i'd say that it being a known tradition lowers the fear of going to a ballet for the first time.
But then, apart from all the racism and outdated stuff you highlighted, people might be going to see *Nutcracker* as a standalone, not as a ballet. Idk if i'm making sense, but it's like people going to see *Carmen* to the opera because they saw the movie, and never converting to any other operas because it's not why they came.
Having the "family friendly" show advertised so pro-eminently is a good thing to attract families (even if it's still so expensive as you pointed out). I'm mostly familiar with the Paris Opera, and they took the other route for children/teens: there are cheap tickets for families and youth, but for the regular season offering. It's not working super well -- i remember when i came to Paris, the "youth" special nights were for under-25yo, now they're up to under-28yo (because none of us can pay full prices).
I learned so much reading this, you put so much time into this and I now know so much about ballet & dance & its history, it’s so disturbing how racism can transcend so many spaces and all spaces
It’s also so interesting to me that the Joffrey did an almost complete overhaul of their Nutcracker and kept in so many of the racist parts? Just because it’s recontextualized in the (racist) world’s fair doesn’t make the Arabian Coffee dance less racist?
I CANNOT AGREE MORE. I love the redo of the plotline for the Wheeldon version—because it's not a fever dream—but it makes me sad to see the limits of their attention to racism! While we get to see a very cool representation of an Eastern European immigrant family and there's, at least, no chopstick fingers, no yellow ballet shoes, and a sick dragon scene in their Chinese Tea, they leave the Arabian mess in. I'd say they follow the guidance on Yellowface.org for Chinese, from what I can remember. While their Arabian (I think it's actually called "Moorish Palace", which completely changes the region from West and South Asia to the Maghreb) is beautiful, it is so deeply fetishizing!
Admittedly, it has taken me a while to come around to the new version (I still am nostalgic for parts of the one I grew up with; The Waltz of the Flowers dresses especially, god I miss them, rip. I hate the candyland costumes, but alas...) but the dragon dance is such a marked improvement that it makes the “Moorish Palace” stand out even more. Especially, because based on my memory, every single other vignette has changed so much (except maybe the Venetian one?). But I also can’t imagine what the outcry would be if they had changed the tone and choreography of Arabian Coffee/ Moorish Palace more dramatically, because I know, at least among my grandparents/aunts/mom, that has always been a fan favorite. Though, that didn’t stop them from turning the Russian dance into the Buffalo Bill thing so who really knows. And if we’re changing the whole thing maybe we should just change the whole thing ESPECIALLY the racist parts.
okay, totally agree on losing waltz of the flowers (and sugarplum)! i was surprised at first but ended up liking the thematic addition of the golden statue. i, again, like it better when it isn’t as much of a fever dream.
AND YES EXACTLY. CANT AGREE MORE. i noticed that they changed spanish to venetian (??? random but honestly, beautiful gowns), and the change of russian to cowboys…. oof. i think that’s an example, actually, of russophobia. especially in trump presidency 2.0 and after the war, it’s a little too okay to shit on or change anything “russian.” (case in point: when the wore broke out, dc bartenders started changing their “moscow mules” to “Ukrainian mules.” the solidarity is cool, but what does that do for the U.S. image of THE PEOPLE OF russia?)
i’ll have more to say about switching ballets to the cowboy theme (weird it’s happened twice, no?) in part 3, but it definitely makes the weirdness of “moorish palace” more glaringly obvious. unfortunately, ballerinas’ love for the role and audiences’ love for the piece keeps folks from critical thought: the main piece of pushback i get is, “i thought it was just a beautiful dance.” “she’s not sexualized she’s strong.” it’s a lot easier to say from an audience perspective, where your creative director (for the balanchine version) isn’t encouraging you to ‘do it for the dads.’
this was such an interesting deep dive! although i've never seen the nutcracker, i've had a vague idea of its history, but didn't know how deep its racism went. i look forward to the next part!
ヾ(•ω•`)o
thanks so much for reading !! 🩰 i hope you get to see a cool version of the nutcracker next season ❤️
very good read. obviously well researched and well intentioned, thank you for putting this together, i’ll be waiting for the next part with bated breath…!
thanks so much for reading 🩰 2 weeks!! next part!!
I love your longform work so so much. phenomenal.
thank you hannah 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️
This was an amazing deep dive, thanks for doing all that work Jade!
I hadn't realized how much of a tradition *Nutcraker* was. I don't know if it's just an american thing, but we don't have that in France at all. There can be productions of *Casse-Noisette*, but i can see only 2 in the past 10 years at the Paris Opera - and neither are the American version.
It's so interesting to me that you developped such a tradition around it, and that it's a child friendly show: the main excerpts i see online are from the coffee part that's not quite it.
It makes me wonder if *Nutcracker* really opens up ballet to new audiences. Instinctively i'd say that it being a known tradition lowers the fear of going to a ballet for the first time.
But then, apart from all the racism and outdated stuff you highlighted, people might be going to see *Nutcracker* as a standalone, not as a ballet. Idk if i'm making sense, but it's like people going to see *Carmen* to the opera because they saw the movie, and never converting to any other operas because it's not why they came.
Having the "family friendly" show advertised so pro-eminently is a good thing to attract families (even if it's still so expensive as you pointed out). I'm mostly familiar with the Paris Opera, and they took the other route for children/teens: there are cheap tickets for families and youth, but for the regular season offering. It's not working super well -- i remember when i came to Paris, the "youth" special nights were for under-25yo, now they're up to under-28yo (because none of us can pay full prices).
I learned so much reading this, you put so much time into this and I now know so much about ballet & dance & its history, it’s so disturbing how racism can transcend so many spaces and all spaces
Amazing deep dive, I'm already looking forward to reading the next part
thank you so much !! 🩰🩰
thank you so much 🩰🩰 can’t agree more! so glad that came across