Informative Essay On Copeland
Many traditional ballets such as Swan Lake, La Sylphide, and Sleeping Beauty are known as “ballet blanc” or white ballets. Many scenes of these ballets are performed in white tutus. Not only are many ballets “ballet blanc” but many ballet companies are as well. However, taking center stage of the ballet world is Misty Copeland, principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre (ABT). Copeland is an African American dancer who has turned the world of ballet on its axis. Through the use of her personal image, principal status, and initiative project, Misty Copeland has begun to make a once-exclusive industry a more accessible and approachable art form.
Misty Copeland is known as an “unlikely ballerina”. Of African American descent and “five foot …show more content…
Ballet companies are known as typically being composed of white dancers; however, Copeland has sparked the conversation of the lack of diversity in many ballet companies. Misty Copeland notes that when she joined the American Ballet Theatre she “was the only black woman in a company of 80 dancers”(Ellis 89). When Copeland was promoted to a soloist, the New York Times even took note publishing an article titled “Where Are All the Black Swans?”. When Misty was promoted to the first black female principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, some people thought it “would be wrong for ABT to give me such a promotion merely to appear more racially diverse and inclusive”(Copeland 251). Although some people will always believe Copeland was promoted at the American Ballet Theatre after coming under fire for the lack of diversity, it does not change the fact that the news of her promotion broke out of the exclusive ballet world. The news of her promotion was not only in dance magazines, but in newspapers and on television. Copeland broke the “ballet blanc” standards and opened the world of ballet up to a new audience who would have continued blissfully unaware of the classical ballet
Misty Copeland is known as an “unlikely ballerina”. Of African American descent and “five foot …show more content…
Ballet companies are known as typically being composed of white dancers; however, Copeland has sparked the conversation of the lack of diversity in many ballet companies. Misty Copeland notes that when she joined the American Ballet Theatre she “was the only black woman in a company of 80 dancers”(Ellis 89). When Copeland was promoted to a soloist, the New York Times even took note publishing an article titled “Where Are All the Black Swans?”. When Misty was promoted to the first black female principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, some people thought it “would be wrong for ABT to give me such a promotion merely to appear more racially diverse and inclusive”(Copeland 251). Although some people will always believe Copeland was promoted at the American Ballet Theatre after coming under fire for the lack of diversity, it does not change the fact that the news of her promotion broke out of the exclusive ballet world. The news of her promotion was not only in dance magazines, but in newspapers and on television. Copeland broke the “ballet blanc” standards and opened the world of ballet up to a new audience who would have continued blissfully unaware of the classical ballet