Week2 WriteUp
By all but one definition, Misty Copeland, is an unlikely ballerina. According to dance legend George Balanchine, “the perfect ballerina has a small head, sloping shoulders, long legs, big feet, and a narrow rib cage”. Despite fitting this description, she recounts in a number of response letters received from dance tryouts that she “lacked the structure”, “had the wrong body for ballet” and was “too old to be considered”. It seemed as though the dance world had in its mind another idea of what a prima ballerina should be. Rejection letter after another exclaimed she simply would not fit.
Misty began dancing at age 13, too late by many industry standards to attain professional success. This late start was seen as a disadvantage of experience, and, given the cut throat, highly competitive world of dance, she was continuously discredited by instructors and dancers alike. However, becoming a principal dancer, she recognized, required not only skill but also incredible emotional stamina. For every successful principal dancer, she noticed, there were many more in her place who simply “burned out”- unable to sustain the grueling eight hour per day six days per week regimen of toe-crushing exercise. CopelandShe says:
“A dancer’s body is the instrument with which she makes music, the loom with which she weaves magic. But we take our bodies to places they would naturally never go. We make them fly, dance on tiptoe, whirl like a dervish. We subject ourselves to unbelievable strain. And sometimes we stumble-- or break.”
This late start—and its negative association—-- ultimately became her competitive dancing “edge”. She was not susceptible to “burning out” nor had she endured as much of the icy, carnivorous culture of competitive dance which weakened a great many [of her contemporaries].
Much like the Firebird’s ascent from the flames, a soloist role she took danced as a soloist for in NYCs prestigious American Ballet Company in one of Balanchine’s most famous
Misty began dancing at age 13, too late by many industry standards to attain professional success. This late start was seen as a disadvantage of experience, and, given the cut throat, highly competitive world of dance, she was continuously discredited by instructors and dancers alike. However, becoming a principal dancer, she recognized, required not only skill but also incredible emotional stamina. For every successful principal dancer, she noticed, there were many more in her place who simply “burned out”- unable to sustain the grueling eight hour per day six days per week regimen of toe-crushing exercise. CopelandShe says:
“A dancer’s body is the instrument with which she makes music, the loom with which she weaves magic. But we take our bodies to places they would naturally never go. We make them fly, dance on tiptoe, whirl like a dervish. We subject ourselves to unbelievable strain. And sometimes we stumble-- or break.”
This late start—and its negative association—-- ultimately became her competitive dancing “edge”. She was not susceptible to “burning out” nor had she endured as much of the icy, carnivorous culture of competitive dance which weakened a great many [of her contemporaries].
Much like the Firebird’s ascent from the flames, a soloist role she took danced as a soloist for in NYCs prestigious American Ballet Company in one of Balanchine’s most famous