Misty Copeland of American Ballet Theater

[aftershocks]

Brief profile on Misty Copeland -- amazing ballerina of African-American descent (also mixed with German-American and Italian-American):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5hwuC7z7Ys

"My struggles as a professional ballerina was my body... I speak about it very honestly and openly. The ballet world has been a certain way for forever, which has been very exclusive and not completely open to people that look different. Not just for your skin type but for the body types that are allowed in. My belief is that if you understand how to train your body in the correct way and how to nurture it and feed it, it can become anything you want it to be...

I went through a period of time as a professional where I was told I was fat, [that] I needed to lengthen, [that] I didn't have the right physique to be in a tutu. And I knew I did! I just needed the kind of support and understanding of [how to take] care of my body, because its my instrument. One of the things I'm pushing for is creating a healthy and positive body image for so many, and that this world should be open to anyone who wants to be a part of it if they just put in the hard work."


A longer formal interview with Copeland at New York's 92nd Street Y:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbRblKb3vSY

On ABC Sunday's Spotlight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD1SWt8-GhA

On CBS 60 Minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBITOHrIcLw

Another ABC broadcast detailing Misty's early background and training:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2HX3DK6CZQ

 

[aftershocks]

... Another ABC broadcast detailing Misty's early background and training:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2HX3DK6CZQ

Oh wow, the above more detailed conflict was only briefly touched on in the 60 minutes feature. Boy was the lawsuit and talk-show circus an overwrought mess, with Gloria Allred (publicity-hungry lawyer) representing Misty's mom. I can see fault on both sides. The caretaking Bradleys apparently wanted to be protective and desired to play a permanent role in guiding young Misty's training and career, while Misty's mom's mothering instincts kicked in understandably when she felt her daughter was being pulled further away into a different world.

Certainly family bonds are important and the Bradleys should have tried other ways to negotiate with Misty's mom rather than encouraging the legal emancipation effort. Seemingly, as Misty began entering and winning ballet competitions at 14 and 15, and gaining notoriety her mother became less amenable to her living away from home, and the Bradleys apparently became more eager to continue playing the guiding role in Misty's life (her mother had initially signed a management contract with the Bradleys).

Obviously emotional attachments had been formed too after Misty lived with the Bradleys for over two years. Misty was clearly young and impressionable as well as precociously talented. Neither the Bradleys nor Misty's Mom and certainly not Allred appeared to have made the best decisions in considering the emotional impact on Misty of all the OTT publicity. Likely the Bradleys wanted to protect their huge investment as well as having genuine affection and caring for Misty, but they went wrong in not understanding the importance of respecting Misty's mom and origins.

It appears that at some point after returning to live with her Mom, Misty received scholarship offers to train with various ballet schools and she spent summer-intensive training workshops with ABT and was later accepted into their company. Around the time of the custody battle, Misty spent a summer training with the San Francisco Ballet school.

I became aware of Misty Copeland only recently, after seeing her on a broadcast of Kennedy Center Honors performing in a tribute to Patricia McBride.

 

[AxelAnnie]

She has wonderful book that came out last year. . Fascinating story.

 

[aftershocks]

^^ Yes, I noticed that too. I plan to borrow her memoir (Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina) from the library. Copeland also wrote a children's book about dancing Firebird:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJr9YX3qlnU

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/misty-Copeland

At this point, I wonder how close a relationship Copeland actually has with her Mom and siblings. Too bad her connection with the Bradleys and their son was interrupted. I doubt she is close to them either after all that happened, although in interviews she still credits Cynthia Bradley with recognizing her talent and giving her the invaluable early training she needed.

Here's an article/ interview from Elle magazine:

http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/interviews/a17/misty-copeland-interview/

Just wow that Misty Copeland began training on pointe after only 3 months of ballet lessons. Incredible! Her feet apparently have perfect arches. Her calf muscles seem extremely well-defined, which is amazing, but I'm sure that has been one of the reasons she's received some clueless criticisms. However, people in the industry who recognize above-average talent and are unprejudiced, appear to have provided her with much praise and encouragement. (Copeland's lawyer boyfriend, Olu Evans, is a cousin of actor Taye Diggs).

Copeland seems like the ballet version of a precociously gifted Johnny Weir who taught himself to do an axel just from watching skating on television. And he learned the 3-axel shortly after he began taking lessons with Priscilla Hill.

The only other ballerina I'm familiar with who started ballet training as a teenager (age 15!) and gained success with a renowned company, is Melissa Hayden formerly with the New York City Ballet during the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. Hayden wrote a wonderful book, Dancer to Dancer, published in 1981.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KRXn-kMUJw

 

[dardar1126]

Twitter:

The New York Times @nytimes: Misty Copeland is named the first black female principal dancer at ABT http://nyti.ms/1IqkHMX pic.twitter.com/y6CqYkElhC

EDIT:

[URL='https://twitter.com/WSJ']Wall Street Journal ‏@WSJ

1h1 hour ago
Misty Copeland has been named the first African-American female principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre: http://on.wsj.com/1g7uxrZ

[/URL]

 

[Vash01]

I had never heard of her, until now.

 

[dardar1126]

Twitter:

[URL='https://twitter.com/BuzzFeed']BuzzFeed ‏@BuzzFeed

51m51 minutes ago
20 times Misty Copeland’s Instagram rocked your world http://bzfd.it/1T22314

[/URL]

 

[Skittl1321]

Very excited to hear about her promotion. I have followed the ballet world for quite some time, and she is a beautiful dancer.

 

[Sylvia]

I had never heard of her, until now.

I first learned about Copeland from the thread was started about her last year: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/ind...an-american-soloist-abt-under-armor-ad.92967/

 

[Buzz]

Congrats to her!

 

[katmari]

Congratulations to Misty!

 

[TOADS]

She is a fabulous dancer. She is very deserving of her promotion. I wish her a long and storied run....

 

[kwanfan1818]

About damn time. For Copeland, all of the others who were promoted, and ABT.

 

[topaz]

I heard about Misty a few years ago. I'm so proud of her and her determination. She crushed all the haters.

I posted on by FB page pics of the body that ballet culture says is too muscular and too ethnic. From what I've read her technique, musicality combined with her flexibility and strength is just not humanlike.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5-S3V78cGfYMEkxY1NQUGNWdjA/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5-S3V78cGfYQkFMbUc1V3NrU2s/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5-S3V78cGfYZU5JZENKMnQwQTQ/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5-S3V78cGfYZGNHd0hKZ0V6dlU/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5-S3V78cGfYOUpIMWpDRzdBaEk/view?usp=sharing

 

[kwanfan1818]

Sadly, the haterz are hate, hate, hating, like in the not-so-subtle "fair and balanced" NYT article.

 

[aftershocks]

Thanks for posting everyone. I read about this news earlier today. Congratulations to Misty Copeland!

Here's what Damian Woetzel (former NYC Ballet dancer) had to say about Misty's achievement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6y4oC4iVOY

Note that Damian refers to the fact that the original intent for Balanchine's and Lincoln Kirstein's new ballet company was for it to be a company of dancers from diverse backgrounds. Balanchine had worked with a number of African-American actors and dancers on Broadway and in film prior to the formation of his company. So for him and for Lincoln Kirstein the diversity intent existed, but it didn't really happen.

Of course, in the beginning of Balanchine's company, there was Maria Tallchief (who was Native American). But as far as black dancers being a part of NYCB, there were only token attempts of inclusiveness (Arthur Mitchell, Albert Evans, and several other black dancers, including Aesha Ash and currently Silas Farley*, but few and far between, and never any black female soloists or principals). I suspect this has been largely due to the need to adhere to societal biases of the times since the company especially in the beginning had to rely on charitable donors in order to grow. But those attitudes are still in force as discussed in the 2007 NYT article about Blacks in Ballet:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/a...all&adxnnlx=1435824307-kdFRWmRVMEQepnTiO5OVnA

*http://www.nycballet.com/Dancers/Dancers-Bios/Silas-Farley.aspx

A Youtube clip taken from parts of a PBS documentary, details the difficult experiences of earlier black female ballet dancers, Raven Wilkinson and Dolores Browne:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnsVq5VqcAk

I've been doing some more reading about Misty Copeland and I came across this TedTalk she gave last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYEChpV_04s

Also, this interview when she was a judge on SYTYCD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnHgk9c8Iok

Misty in a Pas de Quatre choreographed by Derek Hough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd6mRSh2_xo

Contrast with how Misty looked at age 15 in an early ballet competition, which I believe she won: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saMB0Mr1qdE

This May, a PBS documentary debuted in honor of American Ballet Theater's 75th Anniversary. Here is the opening three minutes, which is filmed so beautifully in slow motion. The words of Jennifer Homans (Dance Historian & former member of NYC Ballet) and Kevin McKenzie (ABT Artistic Director) in describing the ephemeral quality of dance and the special significance of ballet are very touching and enlightening, if you love dance, ballet, art, creativity of the human spirit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYY97S5EV4s

The full episode on PBS website:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/american-ballet-theatre/full-film/3911/

Misty Copeland appears briefly during the opening three minutes, and then at 27:00 - 29:56, and later at 1:17:24...

 

[aftershocks]

Young ballerina, Michaela DePrince, deserves her own thread. What an incredible life story, from Sierra Leone war orphan to American student of ballet, now a ballerina dancing in Europe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh5kiTn0P4Y (Michaela's TedTalk)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfh2AtBhZDM (Michaela with her adoptive Mom)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM-E5zOBxh0 (Michaela at 13, as Esmeralda)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXhR7QQymWs (at 14, Don Quixote Variation)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMSvC9yEVKU (Teen Vogue photo shoot)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5sdNwZSWpU (Michaela in a contemporary piece)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mdswPb7J_I (Pas de deux with boyfriend, Skyler)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzEWK_UyWeY (Jacobs Pillow photo shoot)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znoG4XnCv_E (Don Quixote pas de deux - S.Africa)

Michaela received a scholarship to study at American Ballet Theater's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of Ballet. She is currently a dancer with The Dutch National Ballet.

 

[mackiecat]

^^

The only other ballerina I'm familiar with who started ballet training as a teenager (age 15!) and gained success with a renowned company, is Melissa Hayden formerly with the New York City Ballet during the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s. Hayden wrote a wonderful book, Dancer to Dancer, published in 1981.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KRXn-kMUJw

Another late start dancer is Skylar Cambell who started ballet at age 15 and is now a first soloist with the National ballet of Canada
http://t.thestar.com/#/article/ente...ll_takes_giant_leap_into_nutcracker_lead.html

 

[Spun Silver]

.



Of course, in the beginning of Balanchine's company, there was Maria Tallchief (who was Native American). But as far as black dancers being a part of NYCB, there were only token attempts of inclusiveness (Arthur Mitchell, Albert Evans, and several other black dancers, including Aesha Ash and currently Silas Farley*, but few and far between, and never any black female soloists or principal?

Google Debra Austin. She was a soloist at NYCB. She never rose to the top of the pile, but she was around for quite a while.

I'm glad to hear (above somewhere) that there was a tribute to Patricia McBride at the Kennedy Center! She was unforgettable in the many roles she *owned.*

I haven't seen Misty yet... I'm pretty out of touch with ballet nowadays.

 

[nylynnr]

I would be curious to hear from someone who was also in the audience for Copeland's Swan Lake. In the performance I saw, she was unable to do anything approaching the number of fouettes principals normally do. She didn't do them in the dress rehearsal, either.

 

[snoopy]

I would be curious to hear from someone who was also in the audience for Copeland's Swan Lake. In the performance I saw, she was unable to do anything approaching the number of fouettes principals normally do. She didn't do them in the dress rehearsal, either.

Is that a late start issue or a body type issue?

 

[nylynnr]

Is that a late start issue or a body type issue?

It's a fouette issue.

 

[snoopy]

Smartie pants. I thought it might be like skating jumps - often times someone can't do jumps because of insufficient training or they just don't have the right body type.

 

[aftershocks]

As Damian Woetzel said in his Youtube comments yesterday about Misty:

"Excellence is only the first step... Nobody goes to the theater to see somebody dance correctly. No matter how correctly, it's still ... that's a bit like why did you settle for so little in a sense. And Misty takes things to a whole 'nother level with her utter seriousness and sincerity on the stage with what she's doing, whatever the part. Whether it's a classic like Swan Lake, or a Balanchine neoclassic like Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, or a contemporary work. And I think that's part of the reason that choreographers gravitate to her. As well as that she applies herself in ways that read... When I was dancing myself, I realized that the audience always knows... Last week I was in New York and I saw [Misty] do her first Swan Lake as Odette/Odile, ... and the mood in the house was something that I'd never felt before.

Misty is a trailblazer, not only on the stage but off the stage as well, because she sets an example. I think it's going to change ballet in so many different ways with opening doors for people who never imagined that this was a part of their future... And it's not about just being professional. It's about willingness and interest level that she provides to a huge amount of people. Young people all around the country gravitate to her image, which is not simply that of an excellent artist. It's much more than that. It's also her confidence, her sincerity. And when I think about her dancing, I think about excellence, and then I think about sheer dedication and work that she has put into this. She has worked tirelessly for this achievement, and it shows. Sincerity shows. The future of ballet changed for the better today, when I think about Misty Copeland achieving that status of principal dancer at ABT..."

However, I suppose, based on some people's comments and perceptions, when the dancer is an African-American trailblazer who hasn't allowed any obstacles to hold her back, everything she does on and off the stage must be scrutinized and examined under a microscope.

Reminds me of the way everyone is talking about and endlessly critiquing Jason Brown's every move and every program with a fine tooth comb!

As Damian goes on to talk about the changes to ballet in the last part of the twentieth century, he is speaking largely I believe about choreography/ choreographers and cultural influences and impacts. The new voices he is talking about are the new up-and-coming choreographers and the different experiments and paths they are taking. At the end he talks about whether or not everything that the new choreographic voices bring will stick, because it often takes time to discover what works and how different dances will be perceived with the passage of time.

On the so-called 'fouette issue', maybe ask whoever staged the latest Swan Lake, and the person who coached Misty in the role. One question for those wrapped up in numbers might be whether or not every ballerina who performs the famous role actually completes the exact same number of fouettes every time in every performance, or whether the number is limited on occasion for reasons having to do possibly with strains or foot soreness. Or whatever! Is it like Yu Na leaving out jumps she doesn't like. I seriously doubt the 'fouette issue' is really such an issue, or we'd sure to be hearing a lot about it. In any case, I'm willing to bet that the lack of 32 perfect fouettes in every performance, or even in one performance hasn't anything to do with Misty's starting training at age 13, and nothing at all to do with her body type.

Please read in the below article what Kevin McKenzie has to say about Misty's training.

Here's the link to a very meaty, thoughtful and engaging article in The New Yorker. It covers a great deal in an in-depth and nuanced way that specifically relates to the range of conversations we have been having here in both threads concerning Misty Copeland (There's also a brief paragraph reference in the article to Michaela DePrince, which adds additional weight and resonance):

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/22/unlikely-ballerina

In the article there is discussion about how Misty's body type from ages 13 to 16 was considered the ideal ballet body with long, slim legs in proportion to her torso, and a slim build overall. When puberty hit Misty later than usual (and it had to be induced btw!) her body suddenly changed and became more curvy and athletic-looking with a larger bust. She always had unbelievable flexibility, beautiful arches and hyper-extension in her knees, which is both good and bad in terms of looking good aesthetically but being prone to injury if you don't understand your body's needs.

The article mentions that Misty suffered injuries and time away healing her body that helped her grow as a dancer, and as a person, which ABT Director Kevin McKenzie is quoted in the article as believing was an important process. According to McKenzie, Misty Copeland was technically proficient to the level where she could have performed all the classical roles at a much younger age, but emotionally and physically (in terms of an understanding of her body's needs, he says she was not ready back then). In the last two years, Misty has increasingly been given more of the esteemed classical roles.

If McKenzie and Woetzel (along with other ballet cognoscenti) believe Misty has all the technical excellence that is required to be a principal ballerina, and then some (in terms of the dedication and performance qualities she brings), I'm not sure what all the jabs are about here. Aside of course from the usual disbelief, and the need to find something to crap about in the face of prodigious, unexpected talent.

 

[MarieM]

Well I don't really think her technic is stellar at all, but she has an identity and a presence to compensate her other not so good aspects.
A bit huge compared to traditional ballerinas (not that she's fat !!), or more ... athletic ? I really do not think the classics suits her, she is a whole lot better when doing more modern work.

 

[kwanfan1818]

I've seen Copeland do lovely and meh work in classical roles. Her meh work was as a fairy in "Sleeping Beauty," but I they were all meh, but one.

Debra Austin became a Principal Dancer at Pennsylvania Ballet. She danced Peter Martins' traditional production of "La Sylphide" and in the Company's "Bolero" during PA Ballet's visit to BAM. I saw her in the latter -- wished I had seen her in the former -- and she was terrific. Balanchine created the jumping solo in "Ballo della Regina" for her before she left NYCB.

ETA: Here is Austin in "Ballo":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv8T5M1j5D0&feature=youtu.be&t=6m4s

Woetzel has invited Copeland to his Vail International Dance Festival before. He has a sharp eye for talent, and he's not hesitant to support dancers in whom he believes.

I refuse to use Kevin McKenzie's judgement in support of anyone, but I suppose a broken clock is right twice a day.

 

[Artistic Skaters]

Young ballerina, Michaela DePrince, deserves her own thread. What an incredible life story, from Sierra Leone war orphan to American student of ballet, now a ballerina dancing in Europe.

Is this the dancer from the documentary First Position? That was a good movie if you haven't seen it.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Yes, DePrince was featured in "First Position."

 

[agalisgv]

I like Misty a lot, but even i can tell her technique is not what it should be. She has a lot of charisma, though, and a compelling story.

 

[MarieM]

I like Misty a lot, but even i can tell her technique is not what it should be. She has a lot of charisma, though, and a compelling story.

Sure, but compelling stories do not make principle dancers. Not in France anyway.
I bet she is a source of income for ABT, just because of her charisma. Time will tell but I do find the promotion a bit too soon or too late. she is a role model anyway but she won't be remembered for her "classic" dance. I will remember her as a top dancer for modern choreography with ballet background, but IMO her technic to me is not of a prima Ballerina.