Beyond Exoticism: Alonzo King’s Scheherazade , Angelin Preljocaj’s The Nights , and the Transformation of Orientalist Ballet
Abstract
This article examines Alonzo King’s Scheherazade (2009) and Angelin Preljocaj’s The Nights (2013) as neo-Orientalist ballets that recode exoticist aesthetics through postcolonial and feminist frameworks. Drawing on Homi Bhabha’s “third space” and Édouard Glissant’s theories of creolization and opacity, I argue that these works disrupt colonial spectacle by choreographing hybridity, irony, and corporeal excess. Rather than rejecting Orientalism, they transform it from within—producing unstable, politicized embodiments of cultural encounter. By staging identity as a site of conflict, tension, and generative disorientation, these ballets resist transparency and legibility in order to challenge exotification and patriarchal norms.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Diversity and Impact of Dance
Folklore
Mythology
and Literature Studies
Theater
Performance
and Music History
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Dance Chronicle
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 104–123
- Publication date
- 2 January 2026
- Language
- EN