Black Dancers Week : Misty Copeland

[sheshe2]

Misty Copeland Is Promoted to Principal Dancer at American Ballet Theater
By MICHAEL COOPER
JUNE 30, 2015

Misty Copeland was fast becoming the most famous ballerina in the United States — making the cover of Time magazine, being profiled by “60 Minutes,” growing into a social media sensation and dancing ballet’s biggest roles on some of its grandest stages. But another role eluded her: She was still not a principal dancer.

Until Tuesday, when Ms. Copeland became the first African-American woman to be named a principal in the 75-year history of American Ballet Theater.

Even as her promotion was celebrated by her many fans, it raised all-too-familiar questions about why African-American dancers, particularly women, remain so underrepresented at top ballet companies in the 21st century, despite the work of pioneering black dancers who broke racial barriers in the past. And it showed how media and communications have changed in dance, with Ms. Copeland deftly using modern tools — an online ad she made for Under Armour has been viewed more than 8 million times — to spread her fame far beyond traditional dance circles, drawing new audiences to ballet.

“I had moments of doubting myself, and wanting to quit, because I didn’t know that there would be a future for an African-American woman to make it to this level,” Ms. Copeland said at a news conference at the Metropolitan Opera House on Tuesday afternoon. “At the same time, it made me so hungry to push through, to carry the next generation. So it’s not me up here — and I’m constantly saying that — it’s everyone that came before me that got me to this position.”

snip//

Read More: http://3chicspolitico.com/2015/10/24/saturday-open-thread-black-dancers-week-misty-copeland/

She is beauty in motion. I wish I could figure how to add that last image to my sig line, it only allows me three.

[Kind of Blue]

1. Hey! I read today that

she's being honored at Glamour magazine Woman of the Year Awards!

[sheshe2]

2. That is wonderful.

She deserves it, she has worked so hard for so little recognition. Now she does.

My sister takes me once a year to the Boston Ballet. I would love to see her dance at the Opera House.

[Number23]

3. You just gave me chills and made tears pop in my eyes

I LOVE that woman. Absolutely ADORE her.

Because of Misty, I signed up for the ABT newsletter even though I am a world away.

She proves that strong, "curvy," and muscular bodies can leap just as high -- if not much, MUCH higher -- than wafer thin, skeletal ones. And you don't have to be a child of privilege to soar.

[sheshe2]

5. This....

"And you don't have to be a child of privilege to soar."

Okay, you just brought a tear to my eye as well. When she comes to Boston I want to be there. I want to watch her soar.

Finally she gets the recognition she deserves. Brava!

off topic....

I saw this on stage,

Billy Elliot

It is on vid as well. You have to see this. The last frame in the video is breathtaking. Billy soared as well. Please watch.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Elliot

[Stellar]

4. Just beautiful!!!!

LOL....did you see Misty dancing with Jimmy Kimmel?

http://www.vulture.com/2015/10/jimmy-kimmel-ballet-misty-copeland.html

Too funny!

[2naSalit]

6. That was just

sad.

But I get it.

[sheshe2]

7. Ha!!

Thank you for the link~

That was sweet, love how Jimmies tutu was pointing upward.



Thanks for the laugh Stellar~

[lovemydog]

15. Their performance with Misty was amazing.

Laughed out loud many times. Like when Jimmy said 'For me, every performance is the Nutcracker.'

Thanks for sharing Stellar.

[2naSalit]

8. Hooray!!!

Finally!! She is awesome, amazingly stunning and I love her!



I envy you being able to attend ballet in Boston, one of the few things I miss about living in that area, the full range of culture available. I also love the symphony.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. Copeland is the ruling prima ballerina of our time, her reign is barely begun, she has years of

amazing dancing ahead of her. She's very great. Attend a performance if you can....she's in Nutcracker in November in So Cal....I might get to see...

[sheshe2]

10. I would love to see her dance....

I will be on the look out for her arrival in Boston.

[lovemydog]

11. Poetry in motion.

I love the video. Misty Copeland is right, with hard work and the right mentors and friends every individual can follow their passions and achieve great things. She's transforming modern American ballet by making it more accessible. As she says, we all want to see faces we can relate to, on stage. I love watching her dance.

Thank you for the great post, sheshe2. I hope you get to see her in person. I'd guess that you'd never forget it.

Here's a cool clip from a documentary about her called A Ballerina's Tale:

[sheshe2]

12. Aaaah~

Thank you for that vid, lovemydog.

Yes, she is poetry in motion. It was great to see her as a child as well, just starting out. I hope for the day that I can see her.

[passiveporcupine]

13. She is amazing

I love watching her dance. She deserves all the accolade she can get...and awards.

I'd love to see her perform in real life, instead of just youtubes.

[spooky3]

14. I agree. This should have happened long ago. The

Online critiques have just made no sense to me at all.

[Lithos]

16. Wow

Too busy looking at her form...

Such talent!

L-

[betsuni]

17. This choreography really shows her off:

[lovemydog]

18. I don't know how a human being

can do that but it's beautiful to see. Thanks!

[betsuni]

19. Appreciation for Arthur Mitchell.

1957, Agon:

I attended a master class Mitchell taught in Seattle a couple of months after I'd quit ballet. A dancer friend badly wanted to go but didn't want to go by herself and talked me into it, although by then I hated ballet -- it's like mining or breaking rocks into gravel: hard physical labor that leaves you exhausted and sore. The class was held in a suburban dance studio I'd never been to before and although I recognized dancers from other dance studios there weren't any interesting dancers, very boring. Poor Arthur was obviously tired and cranky. He finished a quick lunch from McDonald's just before class began.

Something happened during that class that had never happened to me before. I'd never tried to push my way to the front of the class and get noticed, preferring to lurk in back of classrooms, the exact opposite of what one should do. I had a growth spurt at 16 and was suddenly tall and curvy and the opposite of swans and Giselle and the classic ballet ideal. Unlike Misty, I didn't love dance enough to keep working and fighting, and she was a phenomenal technical talent that comes along rarely in every generation, on a totally different level -- every ballet company school in America wanted her.

Arthur stopped the class during a combination, walked up to me, asked me how old I was and then began to rant. I could do anything, he said, and here I was not even trying. He was really mad, which was an incredible gift. He saw something in me that I knew, not a technical talent, but something else that comes naturally. I couldn't explain to him, of course, that no, no, no, I've given up, I'm lazy, this is the Pacific Northwest, not New York City, I'm not ambitious, I'm weak, I'm sorry.

[lovemydog]

20. Time’s Conversation With President Obama and Misty Copeland

March 14, 2016

http://time.com/4254551/president-obama-misty-copeland-transcript/

There's a fabulous video of the conversation. I can't seemto embed it here. They talk about body image, role models, hair, sports, social media, etc. Here's an excerpt:

TIME: Looking back, was there anything that someone told either of you about race, or didn’t tell you about race that you wish they had or that you feel like you had to learn on your own? And how does that impact how you talk to young people today?

COPELAND: I feel like my mom pretty much covered everything with me. Being biracial she made it very clear to me that yes, you’re Italian and you’re German and you are black, but you are going to be viewed by the world and by society as a black woman and you should be prepared for that. I think that I, being very shy going into a setting where I was the only black woman, allowed me to observe more, rather than react. And I think that saved me a lot. And it taught me a lot. And it has allowed me to, when I’m interacting with my mentees to say to them, you know, there are just ways that you have to approach situations that may be difficult or may not be fair, but it’s how you represent yourself. You may be carrying a responsibility that you don’t want, but it is what it is being African American and being in certain environments. It doesn’t matter if you’re a ballet dancer, if you’re an attorney, whatever it is you’re trying to do, you’re going to be faced with these obstacles.

OBAMA: You know, I mean I think about this now as a parent. Michelle and I are having a lot of conversations around the dinner table. And for me, what I always try to transmit to my kids is that issues of race, discrimination, tragic history of slavery and Jim Crow, all those things are real. And you have to understand them and you have to be knowledgeable about them. And recognize that they didn’t stop overnight. Certainly not just when I was elected. I remember people talking about how somehow this was going to solve all our racial problems. I wasn’t one of those who subscribed to that notion. And, but what I want them to draw from it is a sense of justice for everybody. My view is that the strength of having been a minority on the receiving end of discrimination is that it should make you that much more attuned and empathetic towards anybody who’s vulnerable. Towards anybody who’s being locked out. So what I say to my kids is use this as something that provides you a particular power to be willing to fight on behalf of what you think is right. And that includes thinking about and being concerned with the struggles that whites have in this society as well. You know part of what I think is sometimes difficult, but I think absolutely necessary for black activists like those who are engaging in some of the protests around Ferguson etc., is to try to also get yourself in the mindset of a police officer who is scared.

And who is trying to figure out how to navigate a really challenging job and wants to get home safe. And may make a split second decision. And how are they being trained? And are they being provided enough guidance from their bosses that will steer them in a better direction than the worst direction? That’s hard to do because it’s easier to just kind of say, be angry and frustrated. And part of what I think successful social movements have involved is having a certain righteous anger about injustices being done to you, but also understanding that people who are on the other side of this, they’ve got their own history and their own circumstances. And you have to understand that, and you have to recognize that each of us has some good and some bad in is. And that’s not an excuse, but what it does do is it gives us an opportunity then to have a conversation and to reach across the divide. And that’s not something that always, at a time when so much of communications is sound bytes and tweets, cable news, it’s hard to have that kind of conversation. It’s easier I think to just make everything very black and white. But I think that when you look at how social changes happened throughout history, including in our country, it’s been because we can project ourselves into the circumstances of other people.

And hopefully that’s something that Malia and Sasha and her generation is picking up on. And I think they have.