Australian Values Alliance has condemned Arts Centre Melbourne’s programming The Red Detachment of Women.

Billed as “one of the most vivid cultural icons of the 20th century,” the Chinese ballet The Red Detachment of Women made its Australian premiere last night in Melbourne as part of AsiaTOPA. But not everyone is happy to see the Mao-era ballet hit Australian shores.

Protestors from the Australian Values Alliance gathered in Melbourne to condemn the 1964 ballet, which tells the story of a peasant girl who – following her abuse by a landowner – becomes a guerrilla and revolutionary.

“We are excited to be presenting this flagship production as one of our highlight programmes for the inaugural Asia TOPA,” said Claire Spencer, CEO of Arts Centre Melbourne when the performances were announced. “In the years since its debut, The Red Detachment of Women’s distinctive, colour-saturated aesthetic has found its way indelibly into Western mass culture to be amongst the most recognisable...