Can ballet evolve past its problematic plotlines?

The ballet world is constantly anxious about its future, its relevance, its ability to gain funding and newer, younger audiences. The fact that so many of the most frequently danced pieces perpetuate harmful, wrong — and downright ridiculous — stereotypes, has sent out a clear message that the art form does not welcome everyone equally.

A question that looms large in ballet (and every other art form including opera, film, and TV) is: 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?

» READ MORE: Corella aims to erase stereotypes from his otherwise familiar ‘La Bayadère’

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.

The book opens with his visit to Philadelphia, where he was hired to give a preshow talk ahead of Swarthmore College’s performance of La Bayadère, set in an antiquated version of a monarchical Indian society. One of the most beautiful and beloved full-length ballets, La Bayadère is also one that has been called racially insensitive, on several fronts. As recently as 2007, the Bolshoi Ballet was dancing parts of La Bayadère in blackface.

» READ MORE: Corella’s ‘Bayadère’ for Pennsylvania Ballet has merit, but stereotypes persist

Most stereotypes were initiated centuries ago by choreographers who hadn’t traveled much and mostly guessed what other cultures might be like. In short, they didn’t know better. Today, when we have photos, video, and the internet showing us how life was and is in the countries that ballets (and operas, films, TV, etc.) have often portrayed as “exotic,” we can longer use that excuse.

There have been wins, Chan notes. In recent years, many troupes, including Philadelphia Ballet, have toned down the gestures of the Chinese scene in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, with the blessing of the Balanchine Foundation. In a creative twist, the leaders of the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle discovered they could preserve The Nutcracker in its original form if the lead dancer was dressed not in bright colors and a coolie hat but as a playful leaping cricket.

Susan Jaffe, the new artistic director at American Ballet Theatre, vowed in May to temporarily shelve a number of ballets until changes could be made to remove harmful stereotypes.

Chan writes, “For diverse and global 21st century creatives, Orientalism is a dead end.” He has partnered with dancer Georgina Pazcoguin to run an organization called Final Bow for Yellowface (also the name of Chan’s first book), that has forged paths in erasing these stereotypes; something that few in the industry have dared to even step toward. Former Inquirer reporter turned filmmaker Jennifer Lin is making a documentary about Final Bow for Yellowface.

Ballet has always been a living art. Even Balanchine was constantly reworking his ballets, altering steps, rethinking costuming, offering options for different dancers.

Creativity is not the death of ballet. It is the future.

“Banishing Orientalism: Dancing Between Exotic and Familiar” by Phil Chan, Yellow Peril Press; $24.99.