“It’s sad to see people are so easily offended these days,” its Facebook page huffed, after objections that its dancers hopping and bowing in Chinese silk dresses in a November television appearance had promoted old stereotypes.
But Odyssey eventually asked leaders of Utah’s Asian-American community for their help. Odyssey founder and artistic director Derryl Yeager showed them the backdrops and the costumes for “ReduxNut-Cracker,” the production the dancers had been promoting on KSL-TV, and the dancers ran through their number.
The meeting “was difficult at times,” Yeager said. “Being branded a racist is a difficult thing to get through.