Twenty-two years later, she’s a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre — the first African-American woman to rise to such ranks in the history of the elite New York City company.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Breaking boundaries and fighting racism are all in a day's work for pioneering ballerina Misty Copeland
Twenty-two years later, she’s a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre — the first African-American woman to rise to such ranks in the history of the elite New York City company.
Ballet is such an interesting art form because even when it thinks it's being inclusive it's not. Misty Copeland is a very clear outlier in this situation. She is a pioneer for black people in this art form in the truest sense of the word.
ReplyDeleteI must admit that even though I am nothing of a ballerina this story almost brought a tear to my eyes. The picture of Eden, the little black girl, gave me so much hope and filled me with the sense of everlasting joy that I get from seeing other black people happy. Misty Copeland and the legacy she will leave behind on ballet is the kind of thing that I can't wait to tell my children about.
As long as people like Misty Copeland are doing the good work of fighting racism and advocating body and race diversity in ballet, I think all of us can work a little bit harder to push against marginalization of our peers a little bit harder.