Sotheby's Institute of Art Digital Commons @ SIA MA Theses Student Scholarship and Creative Work 2020 De-Orientalizing Classical Ballet in the Twenty-First Century Pamela Gendron Sotheby's Institute of Art Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.sia.edu/stu_theses Part of the Dance Commons Recommended Citation Gendron, Pamela, "De-Orientalizing Classical Ballet in the Twenty-First Century" (2020). MA Theses. 67. https://digitalcommons.sia.edu/stu_theses/67 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship and Creative Work at Digital Commons @ SIA. It has been accepted for inclusion in MA Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ SIA. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. De-Orientalizing Classical Ballet in the Twenty-First Century by Pamela Gendron A thesis project submitted in conformity with the requirements for the Master’s Degree in Contemporary Art Sotheby’s Institute of Art 2020 13,008 words Abstract The objective of this thesis is to examine the efficacy of strategies used to de-Orientalize canonical ballets. Of particular interest are contemporary productions of The Nutcracker, La Bayadère and Giselle. Through close readings of digitized performances, I explore the ways in which the best practices for presenting non-offensive stereotypes put forth by community leader Final Bow for Yellowface reinforce the conservative impulse of ballet rather than inspire radical change. I present an alternative option for renegotiating racial stereotypes in ballet through Akram Khan’s commissions for the English National Ballet, situating his work within Anurima Banerji’s concept of partatopic performance.