Posts Tagged ballet

By Chloe Angyal • 13 years ago

More ‘Nutcracker’ racism

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the ballet The Nutcracker and its use of racial and ethnic stereotypes. I wrote specifically about George Balanchine’s 1954 choreography for the New York City Ballet, the world’s best-known and most influential version of the ballet story, and called for the removal of the offensive racial stereotypes in that production.

Last week, I had a chance to see a brand-new Nutcracker, with choreography and staging that were created in 2010. It was the American Ballet Theatre production, choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky. Ratmansky, the former director of the Bolshoi Ballet, is an award-winning choreographer who has created works for City Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet and the Kirov Ballet, and is currently artist in ...

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the ballet The Nutcracker and its use of racial and ethnic stereotypes. I wrote specifically about George Balanchine’s 1954 choreography for the New York City Ballet, the world’s best-known ...
By Chloe Angyal • 13 years ago

It’s Nutcracker season, and you’re fat!

It’s Nutcracker season! Every winter all around the country, ballet companies and dance schools put up the ballet that has become inextricably linked, in American culture, with Christmas. There are as many different versions of The Nutcracker as there are groups performing it, but a few things are usually constant. There is almost always a little girl, Marie or Clara, around who the story is based, and there is always a nutcracker and lots of candy. And of course, there is always The Sugar Plum Fairy.

In the ballet versions I’m used to seeing, The Sugar Plum Fairy is the adult star of the show. She’s the Queen of the Land of the Sweets, the sugar-coated dreamworld in which ...

It’s Nutcracker season! Every winter all around the country, ballet companies and dance schools put up the ballet that has become inextricably linked, in American culture, with Christmas. There are as many different versions of ...