PRESS 2023

As ‘Nutcracker’ Returns, Companies Rethink Depictions of Asians - The New York Times, November 29, 2021

The changes are the result of a yearslong effort by performers and activists to draw attention to Asian stereotypes in “Nutcracker.” Some renowned groups — including New York City Ballet and the Royal Ballet in London — several years ago made adjustments to the Tea scene, eliminating elements like Fu Manchu-type mustaches for male dancers. The sharp rise in reports of anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic, as well as a recent focus on the legacy of discrimination in dance, opera and classical music, have brought fresh urgency to the effort. “Folks are finally connecting the dots between the idea that what we put onstage actually has an impact on the people offstage,” said Phil Chan, an arts administrator and former dancer who has led the push to rethink “The Nutcracker.”

Advocacy group wants to see more Asian dancers on the stage, and more Asian choreographers on the program - The Washington Post, May 1, 2021

“At the end of the day, Gina and I are coming to this as lovers of ballet,” Chan says. “We want it to survive and be relevant. Ballet could be a time-capsule experience or be something that is radical and relevant and moves you and makes you feel alive.

“So which is it?,” he says. “Is it a cute historical experiment to just say, ‘Oh, this is how Europeans used to dance,’ or is it something that can mean something today?”

(video) Dancers seek to rid ballet performances of Asian stereotypes - CBS EVENING news, may 19, 2021

For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, "Final Bow" is showcasing the work of 31 Asian choreographers. "It's the only way I know how to push back against the ugliness that we're facing right now is to share hopeful things, to share joy, to share art," Chan said.

“Bringing Down the Curtain on Yellowface” - NPR’s 1A with Joshua Johnson, December 12, 2018

Should longheld traditions change with the times? How has the ultra-white ballet world grappled with issues of race?

“BBC News: The Cultural Frontline” - BBC, March 15, 2020

Two dancers on a mission to replace caricature with character. Georgina Pazcoguin and Phil Chan of the campaign group Final Bow for Yellowface tell us why they’re working to eliminate offensive stereotypes of East Asians on our stages.

Pulling Back the Curtain on the Ballet World: New Memoir Shares the good, the bad, the ugly, & the beautiful - Good Morning America, July 26, 2021

Now, with the new memoir that’s pulling back the curtain on the world of elite ballet — Swan Dive: The Making of a Rogue Ballerina takes us backstage like never before.

Georgina Pazcoguin grew up dreaming of becoming a ballerina but never imagining that she’d become a trailblazer: the first Asian American soloist here at the New York City Ballet. Her journey has included some breathtaking leaps but also some dramatic dives, which she details in a new book.

'Caricatured Orientalism' And 'Slanty-Eye Yellowface Makeup:' Life As A Biracial Ballerina (an exclusive excerpt from Swan Dive) - ELLE Magazine, July 27, 2021

I never felt comfortable with this depiction of Asian culture. There I was onstage, a biracial woman with Asian Filipino heritage, improperly representing Chinese culture with an outdated caricature. It never felt right to me. As a young member of the company at that time, I was not in a position to announce, “I’m uncomfortable doing this. This is racist.”

The depiction of the culture was wrong, and so was the culture that permeated City Ballet. I believe had I expressed my feelings, I would have been pushed aside, my role given to another dancer who would be happy to step into the role. Shut up and dance was the sentiment.

(Video) Asian American ballet dancers making a more inclusive Nutcracker - NBC Nightly News, December 22, 2022

Many depictions of Chinese culture in “The Nutcracker” felt wrong to Asian American dancers Georgina Pazcoguin and Phil Chan. NBC News’ Vicky Nguyen spoke with them about starting a movement to set a more inclusive stage.

“'YELLOWFACE' IN 'THE NUTCRACKER' ISN'T A BENIGN BALLET TRADITION, IT'S RACIST STEREOTYPING” - THE LA TIMES, DECEMBER 11, 2018

Ballet people will argue that all of these elements in “The Nutcracker” are just tradition, that no insult is intended. But in 2018, no one should be able to plead ignorance of stereotyping’s dangers. During my “Nutcracker” research in dozens of backstage conversations, I ran into effervescent young ballet girls, most of them white, who dutifully told me that the Chinese Dance helped them “learn about other cultures.” What I saw them learning was how to flatten anyone of Asian descent into a cartoon

“TONING DOWN ASIAN STEREOTYPES TO MAKE ‘THE NUTCRACKER’ FIT THE TIMES,” - THE NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 13, 2018

It was looking like a caricature and enforcing some negative stereotypes,” said Jonathan Stafford, the leader of City Ballet’s interim artistic team. “We’re kind of in the middle of an evolution right now, a new cultural awareness. While we need to maintain the integrity of the original, we also need to make sure it works for today’s audience,” he added. “We don’t want people walking out offended.

The Approval Matrix - New York Magazine, December 3, 2021

Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Green Tea Cricket is highlighted as “highbrow” and “brilliant.”

2023 By Date

Indiana University Removes Offensive Caricatures in New Productions of The Nutcracker and La Bayadère - Pointe magazine, December 21, 2023

There’s a perceived “zero-sum game, where it feels like we either respect the heritage and the canon and the tradition, or we respect the experience of people of color,” says Phil Chan, co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface. “Both of those things can happen at the same time.” Chan, who has long advocated for eliminating outdated and offensive Asian stereotypes from ballets, will stage the reimagined Bayadère in Bloomington with dance historian and musicologist Doug Fullington. “It is through this process that the work can remain alive and radical and relevant,” adds Chan.

(PODCAST) The Adult Ballet Studio: Episode 5: Phil Chan

Phil Chan, co-founder of the non-profit Final Bow for Yellowface, joined the studio this month to talk about his work with the organization to improve representation of Asians in ballet and eliminate offensive stereotypes on stage. Phil co-founded the organization alongside Georgina Pazcoguin, former New York City Ballet soloist, and they are both doing great work to advocate for Asian artists within ballet and beyond. Phil is also the author of two books - Final Bow for Yellowface: Dancing between Intention and Impact and Banishing Orientalism: Dancing between Exotic and Familiar - as well as a choreographer and a stage director. He directed his first opera this summer, a reimagining of Puccini's 1904 classic Madama Butterfly, and is currently in the process of reworking the famous ballet La Bayadere to appeal to 21st century audiences. We talked about how his own experiences as a Chinese American during the COVID-19 pandemic shaped his approach to his work as a dancer and activist. We also talked about how dancers of any age can push through fear and get into the ballet studio.

Madama Butterfly is poignant american tragedy - The Boston Globe, September 17, 2023

BLO’s “Butterfly” was able to simultaneously pay respects to the lineage of the opera and Asian American history while creating staggering emotional experience with an uncommonly shocking final tableau. Impresarios, take note. This show should have wings.

‘Madama Butterfly’ gets a do-over - Boston Herald, September 9, 2023

Best known for his work in ballet and as a co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface, an organization  committed to eliminating offensive stereotypes of Asians on stage, Chan makes his opera directing debut with the Boston Lyric Opera’s “Madama Butterfly.”

Opera Preview: Expanding “Butterfly”‘s Habitat — A Chat with Phil Chan - The Arts Fuse, September 6, 2023

Phil Chan is best known as the ballet dancer who shamed American ballet companies — and eventually, the broader Western dance field — into getting rid of bobbing and shuffling coolie stereotypes in the Tea variation of the second act of the Nutcracker. In late 2017 he and a colleague, New York City Ballet soloist Georgina Pazcoguin (known as Gina), began to make the case that “yellowface” was no less degrading than blackface minstrelsy, and had no place on 21st-century American dance stages. Another episode of automatic cancel culture? Not even close.

Remembering Choo San Goh - Trace Elements: Episode 2, June 23, 2023

In this episode of Trace Elements, we spend time with Phil Chan (founder of Final Bow For Yellow Face) and Graham Lustig (Artistic Director, Oakland Ballet), each in conversation with host, Jose Solís about ballet choreographer Choo San Goh (Goh Choo  San), who died of AIDS in 1987. Choo San was a rising star, having created ballets for some of the world's leading companies. He is but one example of the art and creativity taken from the world by this epidemic. 

Northrop's 2023-24 dance season includes 2 world premieres - The Star Tribune, June 20, 2023

Northrop's dance series for the 2023-24 season features artists bursting onto the national conversation and new ways to think about performance. It includes two world premieres of Northrop Centennial Commissions, long-term partnerships and an eye toward the new and innovative.

Ballet’s barriers remain high for AAPI women even as companies begin revisiting their depictions - the 19th, May 16, 2023

In an art with deep roots in preserving tradition and where men choreographers and artistic directors have dominated the shape, look and style of ballet for generations, women have long struggled to be able to garner respect as individuals in the field. Because of ballet’s legacy of anti-Asian stereotypes, this has created an extra level of bias that has long further penalized Asian women especially from achieving holistic representation as dancers and creative leaders.

Reimagining La Bayadère with Phil Chan, Doug Fullington, and Sarah Wroth - Conversations on Dance #339, May 9, 2023

Today on Conversations on Dance we are happy to bring you a panel discussion on a very special project: the reimagining of La Bayadère. Joining us are Phil Chan, of Final Bow for Yellowface, Doug Fullington, dance historian and musicologist, and Sarah Wroth, Associate Professor and Chair at Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. The trio talk with us about the idea to reexamine La Bayadère for a 21st century audience, how they are transforming the ballet while preserving it's history, and Indiana University's important role in it's creation.

Boston Lyric Opera announces a 23-24 season of love stories across the centuries - Boston Globe, April 26, 2023

“We need to make its stories relevant to the audiences and the people of our time, while making sure the timeless Puccini score is still heard,” said Chan in a statement.

Georgina Pazcoguin―the Groundbreaking Ballerina, Broadway Star, and Culture Leader―is Leaving New York City Ballet For Greater Heights - Broadway world, April 19, 2023

With so many flowers in her bouquet, one has to wonder what will Pazcoguin's legacy be? It's too early to say, but for this writer, no matter which new boundaries she breaks, her greatest glory will be the contributions she's made to the world as an activist.

Phil Chan on Reimagining Problematic Classics - The Dance Edit, April 13, 2023

For years, Phil Chan—writer, educator, consultant, choreographer, and Final Bow for Yellowface co-founder—has been fighting to improve Asian representation in dance. His latest book, “Banishing Orientalism: Dancing Between Exotic and Familiar,” examines the history of Orientalism in ballet. Chan joins to discuss why he believes problematic older works should be not canceled but instead reimagined for 21st-century audiences.

Oakland Ballet Company steps beyond Eurocentric ballet with daring ‘Dancing Moons Festival’ - The Daily Californian, April 6, 2023

The “Dancing Moons Festival” highlighted a racially diverse group of ballet dancers that reflected the diversity of Oakland. Coupled with Chan’s mission to eradicate Orientalism on the stage, the wide range of music, costume and ballet styles allowed the performance to step away from the confines of Eurocentric ballet and demonstrate the full scope of what contemporary ballet can be. 

Three Choreographers, One Experiment: The World Premiere of Exquisite Corpse at Oakland Ballet - Pointe Magazine, March 13, 2023

Oakland Ballet made waves last year with its inaugural Dancing Moons Festival, a new ballet festival dedicated entirely to works by Asian American Pacific Islander artists. Now an annual event, the festival returns this year to Bay Area audiences with a world premiere and a second venue.

Dancing Moons Festival pushing Orientalism, ‘yellowface’ off the stage - SF Chronicle, March 10, 2023

To see any Asian choreographer at an American ballet company is rare; to see two sharing the same rehearsal space is almost unheard of. Typically, companies feature Asian performers but not Asian creators, and exoticize Asian cultures in 19th century classics like “La Bayadere,” which features fake Indian temple dancers and boorishly caricatured Hindus.

This all-AAPI choreography team is challenging racist depictions of Asians in ballet - The Oaklandside, March 10, 2023

Chan was instrumental in starting the festival to counter the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. The festival also reflects his continuous efforts to eliminate anti-Asian stereotypes in ballet with Final Bow for Yellowface, a nonprofit he co-founded in 2017 with Georgina Pazcoguin, a dancer with the New York City Ballet. Chan said there’s been a significant shift since Final Bow launched. 

(Video) 奧克蘭芭蕾舞團將帶來全由亞太裔操刀作品 華裔編舞家陳肇中分享感受 - KTSF 26, February 17, 2023

Oakland Ballet will present works entirely performed by Asian-Pacific Americans. Chinese choreographer Phil Chan shares his feelings

Banishing Orientalism - Fjord Review, February 3, 2023

Phil Chan wants to get one thing straight: his work is the opposite of cancel culture. As co-founder of the organization Final Bow for Yellowface, Chan has long called for updating the obsolete stage representations of Asians and has even encouraged arts leaders to sign a pledge committing to the elimination of these damaging stereotypes. It is an advocacy he pursues in writing, teaching, consulting, directing, and choreographing.

Can ballet evolve past its problematic plotlines? - Philadelphia Inquirer, January 23, 2023

While there are many cringy aspects to a good number of ballets, most of them also contain beautiful dancing and music. Do entire works need to be lost?No, says Phil Chan, author of the new book Banishing Orientalism: Dancing Between Exotic and Familiar. But choreographers and artistic directors need to find new ways to tell these stories. This should be a relief to ballet companies around the world. They don’t need to start from scratch.

Phil Chan to release book ‘Banishing Orientalism: Dancing between Exotic and Familiar’ - Indiana Daily Student, January 16, 2023

Phil Chan is no stranger to confronting stereotypes on the stage. From co-founding Final Bow for Yellowface, to writing his first book, "Final Bow for Yellowface: Dancing between Intention and Impact,” Chan has advocated for the elimination of prejudiced representations of Asian characters in ballet.