Nutcracker dancers work with Chinese dance expert to remove racist stereotypes

Scottish Ballet said it is committed to tackling racism.
Dancers from Scottish Ballet have been working with traditional Chinese dance artist Annie Au, centre (Andy Ross/PA)
Lucinda Cameron22 November 2021

Ballerinas rehearsing for The Nutcracker have been working with a traditional Chinese dance specialist as part of their company’s commitment to tackling racism in ballet.

Scottish Ballet has said it is making subtle but significant changes to its upcoming production of the show to help eliminate racist Asian stereotypes.

Christopher Hampson, Scottish Ballet’s artistic director, said it is important to do due diligence when representing a culture to ensure it is done so authentically and rectify “inappropriate cultural stereotypes”.

The company’s dancers Alice Kawalek and Kayla-Maree Tarantolo have been working with traditional Chinese fan artist Annie Au as part of this.

Annie Au (left) working with Scottish Ballet dancer Alice Kawalek (Andy Ross/PA)

Mr Hampson, who is also the dance company’s chief executive, said: “At Scottish Ballet, we want to drive anti-racism: clear and simple. If we see racist stereotypes or if we hear about racism within the ballet world, it must be addressed.

“The Nutcracker was created in 1972, when it was acceptable to represent other cultures through imitation.

“If we are representing a culture, it’s important that we have done our due diligence to ensure it is done so authentically.

“By rectifying inappropriate cultural stereotypes, we’re adding to the production’s heritage and making it richer.”

Scottish Ballet said the Chinese and Arabian-inspired scenes in the Land of Sweets will have updated costumes and choreography to “remove elements of caricature” and better represent the culture and traditions which have inspired them.

The Nutcracker opens in Edinburgh on December 1 and will tour Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen, Newcastle and Belfast between then and February.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in