By Phil Chan, co-Founder, Final Bow for Yellowface
As a Chinese person, the second act of The Nutcracker has always bugged me. Looking more broadly at the historic depictions of “Chinese” people on the Western performing arts stage, we see fantasy elements of what Europeans thought Chinese people looked like […]
Artistic Director’s Notebook: George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker™ 2021
“This cannon fires cheese,” Mr. Gio explained in a recent battle scene rehearsal for George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, prompting all the nine and ten-year-old Soldiers to giggle uncontrollably.
“What kind of cheese?” asked Soldier Number Seven, […]
In the spring of 1974, my parents took my sister and me to a performance of George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova’s Coppélia at New York State Theater. It wasn’t my first ballet, but it was the one that prompted me to ask my mom […]
When the days grow short and the nights cold and festive holiday lights appear all around us, we spot snow on faraway peaks and wonder whether we might see enough outside our windows to build a snowperson. We also realize […]