Ringo
Gold Member
The Berlin State Ballet has decided to temporarily suspend the screening of the classic production of The Nutcracker due to allegedly "politically incorrect episodes," acting artistic director of the troupe Christiana Theobald told" Bild".
"In the original version of the ballet, two children appear on stage in makeup imitating dark skin. This is now called "blackfacing". The same applies to oriental dance with harem concubines and a soloist whose body is covered with dark makeup. All these are things that cannot be released on stage now without explanations," she said.
Theobald also noted that Chinese dance, which demonstrates a stereotypical image of the country's inhabitants, is also considered a "controversial" element. On stage, according to her, they "move with small mincing steps."
As the interlocutor of the newspaper clarified, the traditional make-up of children was already removed from the production: for example, the ballet received letters criticizing the audience back in 2015.
"We talked with choreographers Vasily Medvedev and Yuri Burlaka. We told them that blackfacing should be excluded. And when we resumed the production under the direction of choreographer Johannes Oman, there was no blackfacing," she added.
At the same time, Theobald acknowledged that even such a change is a serious violation of copyright.
"We must subject everything to a new assessment, a new look," she concluded.
P.S. On November 6, the Scottish Ballet announced the alteration of The Nutcracker ballet due to "inappropriate cultural stereotypes". The main task of the changes is to get rid of nuances in the portrayal of other cultures in ballet (!!!), which may be considered an insult because of race.
Berlin's "The Nutcracker" is a reconstruction of a classical production based on a libretto by Marius Petipa, which was first played in 1892 at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg.
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I think it's time to cancel racist "Othello" everywhere. Unless there is a real negro in the role of Othello.
And of course the role of Desdemona should be played by an аsian one-legged lesbian with a full figure
"In the original version of the ballet, two children appear on stage in makeup imitating dark skin. This is now called "blackfacing". The same applies to oriental dance with harem concubines and a soloist whose body is covered with dark makeup. All these are things that cannot be released on stage now without explanations," she said.
Theobald also noted that Chinese dance, which demonstrates a stereotypical image of the country's inhabitants, is also considered a "controversial" element. On stage, according to her, they "move with small mincing steps."
As the interlocutor of the newspaper clarified, the traditional make-up of children was already removed from the production: for example, the ballet received letters criticizing the audience back in 2015.
"We talked with choreographers Vasily Medvedev and Yuri Burlaka. We told them that blackfacing should be excluded. And when we resumed the production under the direction of choreographer Johannes Oman, there was no blackfacing," she added.
At the same time, Theobald acknowledged that even such a change is a serious violation of copyright.
"We must subject everything to a new assessment, a new look," she concluded.
P.S. On November 6, the Scottish Ballet announced the alteration of The Nutcracker ballet due to "inappropriate cultural stereotypes". The main task of the changes is to get rid of nuances in the portrayal of other cultures in ballet (!!!), which may be considered an insult because of race.
Berlin's "The Nutcracker" is a reconstruction of a classical production based on a libretto by Marius Petipa, which was first played in 1892 at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg.
--
I think it's time to cancel racist "Othello" everywhere. Unless there is a real negro in the role of Othello.
And of course the role of Desdemona should be played by an аsian one-legged lesbian with a full figure
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