Nutcracker Divertissement | Chinese Tea

The 3rd of Nutcracker’s Divertissement is the Chinese Tea. I like this piece because its iconic, fancy flute&piccolo soli:

This piece is also particularly controversial because, during the time Nutcracker is created, China is in Qing Dynasty so our image then wasn’t the most flattering of all (Eg. the male character in Balanchine’s version is quite offensive)

You can do a lot exploring China’s splendid aesthetic from our rich history. The SF Ballet’s version is cute, they did a dragon dance:

There’s a NeZha version designed and created by Ma Cong, the associate artistic director at the Richmond Ballet: