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Company Secrets: Ballet Unfiltered
Pull back the curtain on the professional dance world.
Hosted by Jared Redick, Company Secrets features candid conversations with Artistic Directors and industry leaders who share the real stories behind auditions, casting, company life, and artistic vision.
From navigating contracts to embracing career pivots, this podcast offers insider knowledge for young dancers striving to thrive in the ballet world—and for anyone who loves the art form and wants to understand what really happens behind the scenes.
Whether you're a student, educator, emerging artist, or lifelong fan, Company Secrets is your backstage pass to the dance world’s most essential conversations.
🎧 Season One: New episodes every Tuesday beginning August 5th!
Company Secrets: Ballet Unfiltered
S2 EP2: The Nutcracker Paradox: Keeping the Magic, Losing the Harm with Phil Chan
In the second episode of Company Secrets: The Nutcracker Paradox, Jared Redick talks with arts administrator, educator, author, and choreographer Phil Chan about how ballet can honor tradition while confronting its outdated and harmful elements. As co-founder of the arts advocacy organization Final Bow for Yellowface, Phil has spent years guiding ballet companies toward more inclusive practices, particularly in productions of The Nutcracker, ballet’s most enduring and widely performed classic.
Phil shares insight into the cultural and ethical challenges of updating the ballet for today’s audiences, offers examples of thoughtful reimaginings—like Peter Boal’s inventive reinterpretation of the Tea and Coffee Divertissements—and reflects on what makes Nutcracker magical for dancers, children, and audiences alike. This episode is a thoughtful exploration of how ballet can remain beloved while evolving responsibly for a modern world.
More about Phil:
https://www.philschan.com/about