AND JOIN LEADERS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY WHO HAVE ALREADY SIGNED:
LEADERS IN DANCE
Garrett Anderson, Artistic Director, Ballet Idaho
Karole Armitage, Artistic Director, Armitage Gone! Dance
Victor Barbee, Associate Director, The Washington Ballet
Peter Boal, Artistic Director, Pacific Northwest Ballet
Gil Boggs, Artistic Director, Colorado Ballet
Isabella Boylston, Principal Dancer, American Ballet Theatre
Devon Carney, Former Artistic Director, Kansas City Ballet
Christine Cox, Artistic and Executive Director, BalletX
Christine Chen, Former Executive Director, STREB Extreme Action
Misty Copeland, Principal Dancer, American Ballet Theatre
Angel Corella, Artistic Director, Pennsylvania Ballet
Robert Curran, Artistic Director, Louisville Ballet
Adrian Danchig-Waring, Director, New York Choreographic Institute
Holly Dorger, Principal Dancer, Royal Danish Ballet
Alejandra Duque Cifuentes, Executive Director, Dance/NYC
Kellee Edusei, Executive Director, Dance/USA
Tiffany Rea-Fisher, Artistic Director, Elisa Monte Dance
Jean Grand Maitre, Artistic Director, Alberta Ballet
David Hallberg, Artistic Director, the Australian Ballet
Christopher Hampson, Artistic Director and CEO, Scottish Ballet
Lise Houlton, Artistic Director, Minnesota Dance Theatre
Barry Hughson, Executive Director, National Ballet of Canada
Nikolaj Hübbe, Artistic Director, Royal Danish Ballet
Arturo Jacobus, President & CEO, Atlanta Ballet
Susan Jaffe, Artistic Director, American Ballet Theatre
Virginia Johnson, Former Artistic Director, Dance Theatre of Harlem
Jo Lynne Jones, Executive Director, Oklahoma City Ballet
Roy Kaiser, Artistic Director, Nevada Ballet Theatre
Karen Kain CC OOnt, Artistic Director Emeritus, National Ballet of Canada
Julie Kent, Artistic Director, Houston Ballet
Li Cunxin, Former Artistic Director, Queensland Ballet
Vanessa Logan, Executive Director, Texas Ballet Theater
Edwaard Liang, Artistic Director, Washington Ballet
Graham Lustig, Artistic Director, Oakland Ballet Company
Michael Mao, Artistic Director, Michael Mao Dance Company
Cathy Marston, Choreographer and Artistic Director, Ballet Zurich
Wayne McGregor CBE, Artistic Director, Studio Wayne McGregor & Resident Choreographer, The Royal Ballet
Evan Mckie, Former Principal Dancer, National Ballet of Canada
Steven McMahon, Artistic Director, Ballet Memphis
Mark Morris, Artistic Director, Mark Morris Dance Group
Caroline Miller OBE, CEO, Birmingham Royal Ballet
Stephen Mills, Artistic Director, Ballet Austin
Hope Muir, Artistic Director, National Ballet of Canada
Linda Murray, Curator, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Mikko Nissinen, Artistic Director, Boston Ballet
Kevin O’Hare, Artistic Director, The Royal Ballet
Cassa Pancho MBE, Artistic Director, Ballet Black
Noelani Pantastico, Principal Dancer, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Artistic Director, Seattle Dance Collective
Georgina Pazcoguin, Soloist, New York City Ballet
Tiler Peck, Principal Dancer, New York City Ballet
Tamara Rojo, Artistic Director, San Francisco Ballet
Calvin Royal III, Principal Dancer, American Ballet Theatre
Amy Seiwert, Artistic Director, Sacramento Ballet
Adam Sklute, Artistic Director, Ballet West
Troy Schumacher, Artistic Director, BalletCollective, Soloist, New York City Ballet
James Sofranko, Artistic Director, Grand Rapids Ballet
Jonathan Stafford, Artistic Director, New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet
Ben Stevenson O.B.E. , Artistic Director, Texas Ballet Theater
Helgi Tomasson, Artistic Director, San Francisco Ballet
Nancy Umanoff, Executive Director, Mark Morris Dance Group
Graham Watts, Chairman, UK’s National Dance Awards
Ellen Walker, Executive Director, Pacific Northwest Ballet
Aaron Watkin, Artistic Director, English National Ballet
Stanton Welch, Artistic Director, Houston Ballet
Ashley Wheater MBE, Artistic Director, Joffrey Ballet
Christopher Wheeldon, OBE, Tony Award-winning choreographer and Artistic Associate, The Royal Ballet
James Whiteside, Principal Dancer, American Ballet Theatre
Clifford Williams, Artist in Residence, Complexions Contemporary Ballet
Shelby Williams, Soloist, Royal Flanders Ballet, and creator of Biscuit Ballerina
Stoner Winslett, Artistic Director, Richmond Ballet
Xin Ying, Principal Dancer, Martha Graham Dance Company
Elizabeth Yntema, President and Founder, Dance Data Project
LEADERS IN THE ARTS
Aisha Ahmad-Post, Director, Ent Center for the Arts, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
Deedee Aguilar, Group Sales Manager, New York Philharmonic
Beau Basse, Creative Director, LaBasse Project
Phil Chan, Director of Programming, IVY
Max Chang, Co-Executive Producer of the 150th Golden Spike Anniversary production of “Gold Mountain,” Spike 150 Foundation
Philip Chung, Creative Director, YOMYOMF
Elysia Dawn, Elysia Dawn Consulting
Mary Eileen Fouratt, Program Officer, New Jersey State Council on the Arts
Dr. Jennifer Fisher, Professor, University of California, Irvine; Author of “Nutcracker Nation”
Lane Harwell, Program Officer, Creativity and Free Expression, the Ford Foundation
Emil Kang, Program Director, Arts & Cultural Heritage, the Mellon Foundation
David Henry Hwang, Playwright and Librettist
Dr. Josephine Lee, Professor of English and Asian American Studies, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Andrea Louis, Executive Director, Asian American Arts Alliance
Kristina Newman-Scott, Director of Culture, State of Connecticut
Bill Rauch, Artistic Director, the Ronald O. Perelman Center for the Performing Arts
Ravi Rajan, President, California Institute of the Arts
Lisa Scails, Executive Director, Cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut
Li Min Tan, Owner, Cloud and Victory
Matthew Wittmann, Curator, Harvard Theatre Collection, Harvard University
Photo: Kyle Davis in Ballet West’s “The Nutcracker.” Photo by Beau Pearson courtesy of Ballet West.
“I love ballet as an art form, and acknowledge that to achieve diversity among our artists, audiences, donors, students, volunteers, and staff requires inclusion. I am committed to eliminating outdated and offensive stereotypes of Asians (Yellowface) on our stages.”
“We are indebted to Phil Chan and Georgina Pazcoguin for their work on making changes to the outdated representation of Asians on our stages. Their work has been game changing and enlightening for the ballet world”
“Dance should transcend all boundaries and stereotypes. Dance is about freedom of expression and voice. Dance should always celebrate diversity and inclusion. Dance is ALL not some. We all share a body, an imagination, a potential to create and innovate. Dance as inspiration. There is no room in our art form for any type of prejudice or closed mindedness. Yellow face shames us.......let’s NOT! Ever.”
“I’ve always felt consciously uncomfortable how “yellow, black and brown” people are portrayed in classical dance. Even at 13 years old. As humans living in the world today, we know what’s right and wrong. No matter your culture or country you reside in.”
“It’s time that all are represented equally and with respect. ”
“ I believe we must find a respectful balance between honoring ballet’s legacy and continuing to evolve in a way that thoughtfully reflects the changes in our society. We can be true to the vision of artists of the past without clinging to outdated and hurtful stereotypes. Our goal is to inspire and delight; embracing and including a diverse group of artistic voices is the first step toward a more beautiful and inclusive future.”
“On behalf of the Royal Ballet I am delighted to be supporting this campaign to ensure that dance and ballet continue to be a force for diversity, inclusion and equality, with everyone represented respectfully on our stages.”
“ We must stop perpetuating unacceptable stereotyping through the guise of nostalgic reverence, and start filling the void they leave with works that represent what is important to our culture today.”
“I’ve spent much of my career teaching and writing about racial performance in American theater. Like blackface minstrelsy, yellowface performance unfortunately has a long history in all branches of the performing arts. But that doesn’t mean it has to have a long future. Identification and education of the problems is important—but actually DOING something is the key. Working artists, producers, choreographers, writers, directors must make the choice to break away from these tired cliches—and spend their generative energies on something wonderful and new.”
“When I arrived at Ballet West 10 years ago, I fell in love with Willam Christensen’s Nutcracker, however I never liked the “Chinese” variation. The Ballet is the oldest full production of Nutcracker in America and was choreographed in 1944 so this variation was completely outdated and offensive. While all the act II variations in Nutcracker are caricatures and based on stereotypes to varying degrees, I found the “Chinese” one insulting.
I made several minor adjustments early on which I felt helped but I was never satisfied. About 6 years ago I went to the Christensen family and asked if I could interpolate Lew Christensen’s Chinese variation into Willam’s ballet. This was part of the Nutcracker done at SFB from the 1960’s until the late 1980’s - It was a warrior battling a dragon. The family agreed and I enlisted former BW principal and current professor of Ballet at the University of Cincinnati Mr. Jiang Qi to help me re-choreograph the dancing.
Hopefully what we have now is a much greater celebration of Chinese culture than the mockery it used to be. I remain committed to working for improvements in this and every other aspect of ballet that is offensive.”
“We believe that ballet is a relevant, contemporary art form – for this statement to be true we must reflect the society that we live in. The art we create should inspire, entertain and sometimes challenge audiences. This is an ongoing industry-wide discussion that Birmingham Royal Ballet is committed to be part of, not least because our home is in one of the UK’s most diverse cities, but also because we want to see ballet thrive.
The issue of representation in contemporary ballets is important, but the more difficult challenge is how we present classic heritage works, some over 100 years old, that are popular and an important part of our repertoire, but that may project outdated racial stereotypes. BRB has been talking about the Chinese Dance in The Nutcracker for several years. In 2017 we removed the ‘yellow-face’ make up. After Phil Chan and Georgina Pazcoguin contacted us in Christmas 2018 we met with them in New York and our artistic team committed to adopt Sir Peter Wright’s revised choreography for the Chinese Dance, and make further changes to our costumes and make-up, which have featured in our production of The Nutcracker in 2019.”
