To think The NutCracker is racist

[Blueberries0112]

I don't know if it a common Christmas tradition to watch the ballot performance "The Nutcracker" in other other countries but I found it a bit too much for my liking. I feel like they can never get it right without seeming too racist.

Nahhhh this is nonsense.

The nutcracker is a beautiful fairytale and BRB are outstanding at performing it - you should check that one out OP.

Sorry, what’s racist about it?

It’s a British tradition that the ENB and the Royal Ballet perform it every year at the Coliseum and the Royal Opera House.

We saw it at the Coliseum a few years ago - it was stunning.

YABU.

The nutcracker is a beautiful fairytale and BRB are outstanding at performing it - you should check that one out OP.

You are so right AgnesNaismith .
I've got tickets for their condensed version at The Rep in December and am in an advanced state of anxiety in case it gets cancelled! Christmas would most certainly be ruined!

@VestaTilley

Sorry, what’s racist about it?

It’s a British tradition that the ENB and the Royal Ballet perform it every year at the Coliseum and the Royal Opera House.

We saw it at the Coliseum a few years ago - it was stunning.

YABU.

You might have seen my friend's son in it then, he was dancing the role of Fritz.

I hope you get to @campion, this is the first year we’ve missed it in 5 and it’s still breathtaking every time!!

Are all the dancers Russian like Tchaikovsky who wrote the music?

If we judge art by some of the values of today, we can probably condemn 90% of works pre-1900.

But that doesn't mean they are any less aesthetically beautiful or extraordinary. Or less worth enjoying for what they are.

@longwayoff

Are all the dancers Russian like Tchaikovsky who wrote the music?

It's a global career these days. Most Russian companies are still mainly Russian dancers, but in the rest of the world ballet companies have dancers from all over the world. If you look at the company dancers of English National Ballet for instance, you'll see what I mean.

The ballet companies tend to have their own particular versions of the classics, the music is the same but the choreography, scenery and costumes etc can vary a lot.

Ballet actually originated not in Russia but in the Italian court, and then gained popularity in France (hence most ballet terms being in French), and then on to Russia and elsewhere.

I think some of the versions of the diverts commonly referred to as the Chinese & [perhaps to a lesser extent?] Arabian dances (“Tea” & “Coffee”) used in US productions are much more faithful to early productions. And thus where “Tea” is concerned will feature yellowface, “coolie” hats, & basically look like “Racist Stereotype Dance”. The Russian & Spanish (Chocolate) dances don’t seem to be considered as problematic - maybe because they use actual dance styles rather than the Othering of the other two?

The Final Bow For Yellowface website has whole subsection on The Nutcracker (can’t direct link, but it’s very obvious in the menu)!

There are definitely issues with staging some ballets (eg Petrushka, much as I love it) but no, The Nutcracker really isn’t Dire Thing Of Awfulness. Though given the actual name of the divert, I’m all for switching it up & having some Irish dancing there instead...

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius
Not to make you jealous or anything, but my DVD is signed by Gary Avis (the ultimate Drosselmeyer) & some of the rest of the cast. I was stuck in hospital after having my appendix out & thought Bennett Gartside was a morphine hallucination when he appeared to visit me with a somewhat bonkers range of gifts Lauren Cuthbertson had shopped for. I hope you can get down to see The Nutcracker next year: not least because it’ll mean the world’s being much more normal. I think they’ll be doing some livestreams this year if that’d interest you at all? It is MAGIC & absolutely joyous: & sure don’t we all need that just now?

As a small child I was taken to see a performance of Petrushka - it gave me nightmares.

Oh I’d’ve been terrified by it as a child... but it got me out of 5 minutes of a presentation in my final year at Uni, so it will forever hold a special place in my heart

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius, I saw the Royal Ballet version last year at the cinema. If you have an Odeon nearby (when they're allowed to open properly again), they do special screenings throughout the year of performances at the ROH. The Nutcracker wasn't performed last year, so it was a previous year's version. It only cost £3pp to go see it. Not sure if other cinema groups do the same, but it's a great way to watch ballet being performed in London without the associated cost of going to London.

Thank you, @Koelner - I’ll look out for that!

Going by the comments on here, applying make up to change your tone colour is racist, does that mean fake tan or sunbed use is racist? Genuinely intrigued

Does it never end?

@Howcanwehelp

I love the nutcracker, have seen the ballet and the Matthew Bourne version and various TV versions. The music is amazing. The Disney version is fantasia is very racist and don't show my children that. I had a version as a child when it was sweets dancing which worked.

Also a great fan of the Matthew Bourne Nutcracker. My autistic lad loves it, the music, dance and theatre We also love Disney ' Fantasia, fast forwarding the scary & weird bits.

@Blueberries0112 These fairytale- like ballets are not racist (in my opinion). I think the intent is to show different cultures in the form of dance.
Enjoy it for the beautiful entertainment it is. 🎶🎶🎶
or watch something else!

@Whammyyammy
Yellowface & black-face are very different from the use of a darker shade of foundation/fake tan/using a sunbed. It’s about intent & the direction in which one is punching - & institutions vs individuals, too, though obviously media is now consumed in more personalised ways. (OFC there is now the whole blackfishing issue, as seen with, eg, some of the Kardashian sisters, which absolutely can trespass into racism - whether that’s people blackfishing; people not understanding where the line is between appreciation & appropriation; or people leaping to wild conclusions about what white “is allowed” to look like. However, that falls without “normal” use of fake tan/sunbeds.)

@Whammyyammy

Going by the comments on here, applying make up to change your tone colour is racist, does that mean fake tan or sunbed use is racist? Genuinely intrigued

Of course not.