Final Bow for Yellowface (www.yellowface.org) was founded by Georgina Pazcoguin, New York City Ballet soloist, and Phil Chan, arts administrator and educator, with a simple pledge, "I love ballet as an art form, and acknowledge that to achieve a diversity amongst our artists, audiences, donors, students, volunteers, and staff, I am committed to eliminating outdated and offensive stereotypes of Asians (Yellowface) on our stages." Since 2017, almost every major American ballet company has signed the pledge, and Gina and Phil have advised performing arts groups on how to maintain the integrity of works from the classical Western canon while updating outdated representations of Asians. In addition to "Nutcrackers" across the country, other projects have included advising on "Anything Goes" for DC's Arena Stages, and "Le Chant du Rossignol" for Salt Lake City's Ballet West. Gina and Phil will be presenting upcoming talks on yellowface and orientalism in dance at 92Y, the Guggenheim's Works & Process, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, and the Museum at FIT.
Hansuke Yamamoto in Helgi Tomasson's Nutcracker at San Francisco Ballet, which features an exciting and respectful Chinese divertissement. Photo by Erik Tomasson, Courtesy SFB
It's Nutcracker time again: the season of sweet delights and a sparkling good time—if we're able to ignore the sour taste left behind by the outdated racial stereotypes so often portrayed in the second act.
In 2017, as a result of a growing list of letters from audience members, to New York City Ballet's ballet master in chief Peter Martins reached out to us asking for assistance on how to modify the elements of Chinese caricature in George Balanchine's The Nutcracker. Following that conversation, we founded the Final Bow for Yellowface pledge that states, "I love ballet as an art form, and acknowledge that to achieve a diversity amongst our artists, audiences, donors, students, volunteers, and staff, I am committed to eliminating outdated and offensive stereotypes of Asians (Yellowface) on our stages."
