Yee: Performing arts must stop excluding marginalized communities

In a recent Ottawa production of The Nutcracker, dancers – a majority of them white – wore fans on their heads and alternated between jokingly pointing their fingers up and putting their hands together in prayer position, as a portrayal of a “Chinese” dance. The ballet also featured “Russian” and “Arabian” dances, with similarly problematic depictions.
The Nutcracker was conceived in the 1800s, but little has changed with this “Christmas clas