Ballet and cancel culture: Paris Opera fights racism on the stage – but will it come at the cost of classics like Swan Lake?
- Director of Paris Opera seems to suggest he will not stage ballets, like Rudolf Nureyev’s Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, that perpetuate racial stereotypes
- A former principal dancer at the Paris Opera describes the depiction of people of colour in some classical ballets as bordering on pantomime
Has the rarefied world of French ballet come under the sway of American-style “cancel culture”?
The director of Paris Opera, home also to France’s top ballet company, has been accused of political correctness “gone mad” for appearing to suggest he will no longer stage classical ballets that perpetuate racial stereotypes.
“Some works will no doubt disappear from the repertoire,” Alexander Neef said in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde’s weekly magazine M about the recent push by black and mixed-race dancers and staff for greater diversity in the corps de ballet and its productions.
Le Monde seemed to suggest that some audience favourites, including Rudolf Nureyev’s versions of Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and La Bayadere, could be affected by the “revolution”, sparking an outcry.
The Paris Opera sought to quickly tamp down the controversy. In a statement it assured that there had “never been any question of dropping Nureyev’s works from the repertoire” and that Neef’s remarks had been misinterpreted.