Phil Chan and Meredith Martin (CBA ’21) discuss their restaging of “Ballet des Porcelaines.”
In 1739 at a château outside of Paris, a group of French elites staged a ballet pantomime known as the Ballet des Porcelaines or The Teapot Prince. It tells the story of a prince searching for his lover on an exotic island ruled by a Chinese sorcerer, who turns trespassers into porcelain. On the one hand a standard Orientalist fairy tale, the ballet is also an allegory for the intense European desire to know and possess the secrets of porcelain manufacture.
Final Bow for Yellowface co-founder Phil Chan and NYU Associate Professor Meredith Martin (CBA ’21) have reimagined this lost Baroque work with an all-Asian American creative team, aiming to make it meaningful and relevant for a multiracial and contemporary audience. This talk explores their process and performance plans and features performances by Martha Graham Principal Dancer Xin Ying and actor, singer, dancer, choreographer Tyler Hanes.
This was a virtual event presented on November 1, 2021. The Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU is committed to making our events accessible to the widest possible audience. CART (live captioning) is available.
