Letter to the Feuilleton (discursive aside page 7)
You already know I think all art is for all of us. Here is Jay Chou mishmashing to great heights Chinese and European music and art.
This brings me to a letter to the editor I sent the Feuilleton at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung last November. I never heard back from them. So it’s been sitting in darkness for the greater part of a year. I wonder if you would possibly like to read it? (Below is the hotheaded version I wrote in English but didn’t send. Below that is the slightly cooler version I rewrote, and did send (in German).)
The unsent hotheaded version I initially wrote:
I read with interest the the article “Ist der Nussknacker rassistisch?” by Frau Huester from yesterday evening’s faz.net on the cancellation of der Nussknacker partly because of its perceived racism against Chinese people. As a Chinese woman who named her daughter Klara partly because of the beautiful Nussknacker, who had hoped to take my four year old Klara (coronavirus situation permitting) to see der Nussknacker for the first time, I would like the opportunity if I may have it, to respond and reflect on this situation in the FAZ Feuilleton.
It seems to me, that the expectation from Das Staatsballett Berlin that a Spaniard and a Russian would be able to tolerate watching a Spanish dance and a Russian dance in this ballet, but that I, a Chinese, would be unable to tolerate it, a deeply racist and European-supremacist view of human beings. Unlike Das Staatsballett Berlin, I think I am the equal of a European. If the Spaniard and the Russian can be expected to have the mental capacity to understand, contextualize, enjoy, and even appreciate this work of genius by wildly romantic nineteenth centuries artists from Russia, who adapted and reimagined German fairytale, then I hold myself to that same standard. I do not wish to have the bar for mental capacity lowered for me below that of the European.
My longstanding love of this ballet was part of what made this name particularly beautiful to me. My four year old Klara tells me with joy and pride that she is faster than her Kindergarten Erzieher because she beat him in a footrace. I smile indulgently at her, praise her speed, and mentally thank the Erzieher for letting her win so she can experience this innocent pride and joy. The Erzieher holds himself back and lets my daughter win because they are not equals. He is an adult while she is a four year old. He does this because he is warm, wonderful, and a terrific Erzieher. I’m so grateful to him. But if he held himself back to let me have the pretense of winning, then that would be condescending and paternalistic, because it would mean he does not see me as his equal.
When Das Staatsballett Berlin holds my capacity to understand the ballet in its nineteenth century context to be less than that of a Spaniard’s or a Russian’s, in other words, a European’s, it is because Das Staatsballett Berlin does not think I am her equal.
In another nineteenth century creation, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story “A Scandal in Bohemia”, the pompous King of Bohemia says to Sherlock Holmes about the beautiful and intelligent Irene Adler whom he had wished to marry:
“Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?”
Sherlock Holmes replied:
“From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a very different level to your Majesty,” said Holmes coldly.
The genius of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, of The Nutcracker writer ETA Hoffmann, of the Nutcracker composer Tchaikovsky, of the Nutcracker choreographers Petipa and Lev Ivanov are for all of us, not only those das Staatsballet Berlin considers on her level.
As a child growing up in China I had a copy of the Bruder Grimm’s fairy tales and a copy of Chinese folktales, and I treasured both. To be protected now as an adult living in Berlin from European fairytales by das Staatsballet Berlin is a surprise. I was ready for it as a child. My Chinese and German child, Klara, is ready for it now. I wish das Stattsballet Berlin would let the ballet go on.
The slightly cooler/toned-down, but more researched version I re-wrote and actually sent in German (here is my English original):
I read with interest the article “Ist der Nussknacker rassistisch?” by Frau Huester in FAZ on 24.11.2021 on the cancellation of der Nussknacker partly because of its perceived racism against Chinese people. As a Chinese woman living in Berlin who loves der Nussknacker, I would like the opportunity if I may have it, to respond and reflect on this situation in FAZ.
Here is a link to a 1 hour 38 minute video of the National Ballet of China performing der Nussknacker
If you search on baidu.com (a Chinese search engine) the Chinese characters for “China” and “der Nussknacker Ballet”, over 7 million hits come up, and you can peruse at your leisure videos and images of Chinese dancers performing this ballet. I have performed this exact search here.
Here is a Chinese article describing the Suzhou Ballet’s performance of der Nusscracker, with photos of Chinese dancers in Maus costume, Chinese dancers in front of a Christmas tree.
Here is the website of the HK Ballet of Hong Kong, trying to raise money so they too can perform der Nussknacker.
It’s a surprise and disappointment to me that while Chinese people are performing this ballet, and in some cases working so hard to try to perform it, das Staatsballet Berlin, who has the resources to do so, chooses to not perform it.
It seems to me, that the expectation from Das Staatsballett Berlin that a Spaniard and a Russian would be able to tolerate watching the Spanish dance and the Russian dance in this ballet, but that a Chinese, would be unable to tolerate watching the Chinese dance, a condescending view of Chinese people. Unlike Das Staatsballett Berlin, I think I am the equal of a European. If the Spaniard and the Russian can be expected to have the mental capacity to understand, contextualize, enjoy, and even appreciate this work of genius by wildly Romantik nineteenth centuries artists from Russia, who adapted and reimagined German fairytale, then I hold myself to that same standard. I do not wish to have the bar for mental capacity lowered for me below that of the European.
My longstanding love of this ballet was part of what made the name Klara particularly beautiful to me. My four year old Klara tells me with joy and pride that she is faster than her Kindergarten Erzieher because she beat him in a footrace. I smile indulgently at her, praise her speed, and mentally thank the Erzieher for letting her win so she can experience this innocent pride and joy. The Erzieher holds himself back and lets my daughter win because they are not equals. He is an adult while she is a four year old. He does this because he is warm, wonderful, and a terrific Erzieher. I’m so grateful to him. But if he held himself back to let me have the pretense of winning, then that would be condescending and paternalistic, because it would mean he does not see me as his equal.
When Das Staatsballett Berlin holds my capacity to understand the ballet in its nineteenth century context to be less than that of a Spaniard’s or a Russian’s, in other words, a European’s, it is because Das Staatsballett Berlin does not think I am her equal.
In another nineteenth century creation, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story “A Scandal in Bohemia”, the pompous King of Bohemia says to Sherlock Holmes about the beautiful and intelligent Irene Adler whom he had wished to marry:
“Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?”
Sherlock Holmes replied:
“From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a very different level to your Majesty,” said Holmes coldly.
The genius of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, of ETA Hoffmann, of Tchaikovsky, of Petipa, and of Lev Ivanov are for all of us, not only those das Staatsballet Berlin considers on her level.
As a child growing up in China I had a copy of the Bruder Grimm’s fairy tales and a copy of Chinese folktales, and I treasured both. To be protected now as an adult living in Berlin from European fairytales by das Staatsballet Berlin is a surprise. I was ready for it as a child. My Chinese and German child, Klara, is ready for it now. I wish das Stattsballet Berlin would let the ballet go on.