The dancer’s body
Meet Misty Copeland, a soloist at American Ballet Theater, one of the premier dance companies in America:
Because the dancer’s body is her (or his) instrument, the fact that Copeland is black becomes more of an issue than it would be in other artistic endeavors. So, that’s what people tend to talk about when they talk about Copeland.
To me, though, it’s far more interesting that she has an atypical sort of physique for a ballet dancer than that she has an atypical color skin. Copeland is more chesty than almost every other professional ballet dancer on earth, as well as more mesomorphic.
And how tall do you think she is?
The answer, very surprisingly, is 5’2″. That’s an example of what I was talking about years ago when I wrote:
But in the dance world in general, height does not make right. The stage adds height to dancers rather than subtracting it, so audiences might be very surprised to learn how miniscule some of their towering favorites actually are.
Because of her muscularity and proportionately broad shoulders, Copeland comes across as especially tall. According to this New Yorker article, she went through puberty late and her body changed after she had already attained a high level of achievement, making it necessary for her to relearn how to deal with a new center of gravity. That is very hard, but she had already done something almost unheard of—begun the study of ballet at the ancient age of thirteen. She’s strong and athletic, not delicate at all. She’s a good dancer rather than a great one, in my opinion, but the same could be said for most dancers today. I saw American Ballet Theater perform on my recent trip to New York, but unfortunately she wasn’t on the program. I’d like to see her in person and make my decision that way; videos don’t quite tell the whole story.
[NOTE: The following is a bit of inside baseball. But as far as floor barre goes, I don’t know what the woman’s talking about in the New Yorker article, because back in my day a teacher named Zena Rommett was known far and wide for her floor barre in NY. It sounded so easy—do your exercises lying down on the floor rather than standing up—but I found it confoundingly difficult to do when I tried it in my twenties while rehabbing from my first back injury.
Also the author says that Copeland’s hyperextended knees leave her more vulnerable to injury. But hyperextended knees are extremely common among dancers, almost standard (I have them too, although not to the same degree as Copeland). My guess is that it was Copeland’s late start in ballet that has made her more vulnerable to injury.
On researching Rommett for this article (I hadn’t thought much of her since the 1970s), I learned that she taught ballet until three months before her death at the age of 90. Strong lady, like so many other dancers.]
I started out immediately finding this young woman appealing and even enchanting.
As the interview went on, I found her more and more offensive.
By the end I had to resist finding her repugnant.
Hard work is hard work. Dedication is dedication. Even the dedicated, hard-working folks with great talent get shunted aside.
Using race to self-promote may be smart, but it is as shabby as sleeping with the producer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drcEqlAA4F4
This young lady of San Francisco Ballet is one of the greats dancing today definitely. Maria Kotchetkova. She just floats and is so musical.
Also Maria Kowroski of NYC Ballet, an incredible dancer like the leggy Balanchine dancers of the seventies, like Suzanne Farrell. She is retiring this year though. Those are the two I get excited about.
Misty Copeland is an incredible athlete, but does not seem like a traditional ballerina. Most likely because she started so late. I appreciate her dancing, but would not go out of my way to see her dance again. Aesthetically she seems more like a rock star, celebrity, charismatic kind of performer than a classical ballet dancer. It’s amazing she got there at all, with such a late start.
Just a note of thanks to Neoneocon for the various letters and columns on ballet. My wife and I have been caring for our young grand-daughter over the last three/four years and we have had her take ballet and dance at the little studio here in a small Oregon town. We have watched her go from a shy but enthusiastic, and somewhat clumsy child to a poised young girl/woman. Though we don’t know how far she will go with ballet or the other dance forms, we love the transformation that is and has taken place.. as such.. as an old grandpa who loved going to the ballet when i was young.. I wait for your posts on new and old ballerinas and your viewpoints… it helps me understand what she is going through… many thanks!
I never heard of her before TIME named her one of the most influential people in the world (!), and I have to admit I was surprised that there were no black principal dancers when there have been black opera singers for years. But… so what?
As a longtime dance fan I am a big fan of “So You Think You Can Dance,” which has amazingly talented dancers and choreographers who put out fantastic pieces for weeks in a row. They are on the auditions now and this week a young man adopted from Korea as a baby — who has had some 20 surgeries to correct a cleft palate — was really one of the most amazing dancers I’ve ever seen. He is with the Houston Ballet, I think. Why is he just some would-be contestant on SYTYCD while she is “one of the most influential people in the world”?? Isn’t a Korean person just as interesting as a black person? Sometimes I think the media makes up things to care about that real people don’t care about at all, and then only does stories about their made up issues.
@ Gail: Speaking of making things up – http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/04/09/398508457/who-gets-to-dance-in-swan-lake-the-answer-is-changing