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jmmoth 's review for:
Vital. Crucial. Honest.
I have so many appreciation for Phil Chan and Georgina Pazcoguin. And I will continue to thank them for the rest of my life for speaking with such honesty, bravery, and passion. Everything in this book has been researched with exceptional care and dedication. The writing isn't stuffy and outdated (sadly, I've read countless academic articles in grad school that deal with race and dance that are the exact opposite).
(Sidenote: I do not love the amount of Peter Martins "screen-time" at the start. Granted, Phil did address the very serious sexual assault abuse under his reign and in his personal life; however, these are not mere allegations, they are real. And I wish they would have/could have supported the women who've been sexually violated and assaulted by NYCB members and actually said the names of these survivors, Alexandra Waterbury and Darci Kistler. This is not unrelated to the issues within this book, as they are systematic abuses of power and oversight from the White male members of NYCB who were unaware and unphased by dancing and observing racial stereotypes.)
I love the almost memoir-esque narrative aspects woven through this study of Asian caricature vs character. I love all of the mentioned approaches to dealing with race in ballet, and the ability to expand and grow in these approaches as time changes. I finished this book feeling extremely excited for Phil Chan's next book and next book and next book.
Overall, I want more. We need more. The world is more than The Nutcracker and Balanchine.
But my only issue with this book is the incredibly poor editing.
I don't know if it's the editor(s) to blame, or publishing agent, or the quick turn around for publication, or lack of funds within the small publishing house, or all of that... but whatever is going on BTS has made this a really difficult read for me because of all the editing errors and publication issues.
I've had to stomach hundreds of boring, lame "Balanchine-worship" history tomes with only a handful of editing errors, dozens of colorful full-page images, and dazzling covers. But this is a book I actually admire and adore for many reasons, yet it's tainted by such lack of care and respect from the department teams in publishing.
Why? Why can't we have a critical dance history text about Asian representation that has an equal or greater than amount of attention to editing details, good design choices, and full-color images as every other Balanchine text? Why aren't publishing houses spending as much for their POC authors and books regarding critical topics in race, society, and the arts? Why aren't there more editors and houses dedicated to POC causes with equal funding and support?
We don't need any more thick, glossy books about Balanchine.
We need more books like this one but with better editing and design.
I have so many appreciation for Phil Chan and Georgina Pazcoguin. And I will continue to thank them for the rest of my life for speaking with such honesty, bravery, and passion. Everything in this book has been researched with exceptional care and dedication. The writing isn't stuffy and outdated (sadly, I've read countless academic articles in grad school that deal with race and dance that are the exact opposite).
(Sidenote: I do not love the amount of Peter Martins "screen-time" at the start. Granted, Phil did address the very serious sexual assault abuse under his reign and in his personal life; however, these are not mere allegations, they are real. And I wish they would have/could have supported the women who've been sexually violated and assaulted by NYCB members and actually said the names of these survivors, Alexandra Waterbury and Darci Kistler. This is not unrelated to the issues within this book, as they are systematic abuses of power and oversight from the White male members of NYCB who were unaware and unphased by dancing and observing racial stereotypes.)
I love the almost memoir-esque narrative aspects woven through this study of Asian caricature vs character. I love all of the mentioned approaches to dealing with race in ballet, and the ability to expand and grow in these approaches as time changes. I finished this book feeling extremely excited for Phil Chan's next book and next book and next book.
Overall, I want more. We need more. The world is more than The Nutcracker and Balanchine.
But my only issue with this book is the incredibly poor editing.
I don't know if it's the editor(s) to blame, or publishing agent, or the quick turn around for publication, or lack of funds within the small publishing house, or all of that... but whatever is going on BTS has made this a really difficult read for me because of all the editing errors and publication issues.
I've had to stomach hundreds of boring, lame "Balanchine-worship" history tomes with only a handful of editing errors, dozens of colorful full-page images, and dazzling covers. But this is a book I actually admire and adore for many reasons, yet it's tainted by such lack of care and respect from the department teams in publishing.
Why? Why can't we have a critical dance history text about Asian representation that has an equal or greater than amount of attention to editing details, good design choices, and full-color images as every other Balanchine text? Why aren't publishing houses spending as much for their POC authors and books regarding critical topics in race, society, and the arts? Why aren't there more editors and houses dedicated to POC causes with equal funding and support?
We don't need any more thick, glossy books about Balanchine.
We need more books like this one but with better editing and design.