As Misty Copeland notes, prima ballerinas are not supposed to be black. Cannot wrap my head around the reality that she is the first female African American dancer to have the role of Principal Dancer at the American Ballet Theatre - 2016. Are you kidding?
https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2016/04/26/misty-copeland-and-the-newness-of-the-ballerina-body/
I am a HUGE FAN of Misty Copeland. As the article mentioned she defeated multiple stereotypical ballerina images with her promotion by the ABT. In the company’s 75 years of existence, Copeland is the first African-American woman to achieve this elite status, which says a lot about how the ballet world sticks to it's "ballerina" mold of a tall, slender, and fair-skinned female. After reading about her story, what stood out the most was the rejection letter she received at the age of thirteen from an unnamed academy that said she “lacked the right feet, Achilles tendons, turnout, torso length, and bust.” Instead of giving up, Copeland became dedicated to ballet and was eventually accepted into the ABT, leading to her promotion. In the past race has been a limitation in the ballet world, but Copeland provides hope that change and acceptance is near.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Amanda. Misty Copeland is a phenomenal dancer and on top of her accolades, a role model to female athletes everywhere. I had the privilege of seeing her perform in Cinderella and I could not take my eyes off of her. It is a devastating shock to me that it took so long for her to have a principal role at ABT. What is so ironic to me is that the art of dance is supposed to be universal; shared by many as a form of expression. Why has it taken this long to celebrate the beauty of ballet across the spectrum of "race"?
ReplyDeleteIt took a long time for the famous Radio City Music Hall Rockettes to hire "non-white" dancers because, unless they hired two, it would throw off the symmetry of the line. This speaks to a lot of things especially the power of the construct of race as it links to skin color.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see how her identity characteristics of Black, muscular, "large-chested" are viewed in relation to her identity as a dancer. How would these three elements be viewed simply as a woman? Or as a black woman? Would people perceive her differently in different social contexts/roles?
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