black ballerinas
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Misty Copeland’s Bunheads Is for Children, but There’s a Message for Everyone at the Barre
Last Tuesday, there were several ways you could have spent your 7 pm hour in the Eastern Standard Time Zone—including, but not limited to, witnessing an embattled president categorically lower a standard he’d set in public tantrum-throwing. But in a kinder, gentler section of the internet that evening, positivity and light abounded as Misty Copeland…
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Big Ballerina Energy: Misty Copeland Talks 'Swans for Relief' and 80 Years of American Ballet Theatre
“Whenever we’re in times like this, of tragedy, it’s such a natural thing. We’re human beings that gravitate towards dance and music because it’s healing.” — Misty Copeland, Principal Dancer, American Ballet Theatre text Misty Copeland, who became American Ballet Theatre’s first African-American principal dancer in 2015, is still putting in work. Most recently, Copeland’s…
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Skin Deep: Appreciation for Dark Brown Flesh-Colored Bandage Goes Viral
“It’s taken me 45 trips around the sun, but for the first time in my life I know what it feels like to have a ‘band-aid’ in my own skin tone,” 45-year-old Apollon wrote last week about his Tru Colour bandage. “You can barely even spot it in the first image. For real I’m holding…
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Misty Copeland Is Our Favorite New Disney Princess
Misty Copeland just keeps making history. This time, she made it to Disney! We caught up with Copeland to chat about how the Ballerina Princess is helping to make black ballerinas the norm. Watch above. Catch Misty Copeland in Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms in theaters Friday.
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Watch: This Is What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl in a White Ballet World
Isabella Soto has big dreams of becoming a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre. “I saw The Nutcracker when I was 2 years old and I said I really want to do this,” said the 11-year-old. By age 5, Isabella had already realized there weren’t many dancers who looked like her in the world…
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New Picture Book Tells Story of Raven Wilkinson, the 1st African-American Ballerina to Dance for a Major Company
Misty Copeland, the first black ballerina to earn the coveted title of principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, is known for smashing ceilings and breaking down barriers, heavily promoting diversity in an industry that is still sadly lacking in representation. But before there was Misty Copeland, there was Raven Wilkinson, who actually mentors Copeland…