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Thank you, Misty Copeland and Dana Nichols
Ballerina Misty Copeland spoke up regarding the practice of blackface/brownface in her profession. Please read her powerful thoughts, as well as a first person testimony from dancer Dana Nichols, who tells a compelling real life experience of being dressed in blackface for a performance.
It takes courage to speak up in a society where the concerns of minorities are sometimes ignored, laughed at, or challenged as being overly sensitive. I commend both these brave women.
Here’s Misty Copeland’s response to this continued practice:
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/B5zGh5cjbmI/
While Misty Copeland is getting support for speaking out she’s also getting some very ugly, racist responses that condone this “tradition.” Check out an example of the responses (many in Russian) on her Facebook page:
Here’s dancer Dana Nichol’s first person account in Dance Magazine:
“I must have been the only dark-skinned person to have been in a Mariinsky production. The women in charge weren’t sure what to do with me. I saw the white dancers around me covering themselves in the brown paint and distinctly remember being at a loss for words because it was so bizarre. It was especially the red lipstick traced around the mouth that disturbed me. I remember looking down at the paints and trying to figure out what they had to do with me. All I could manage to say was, “Do I need this?”
I became that thing in the room that no one had ever had to confront.”
https://www.dancemagazine.com/black-face-in-ballet-2641581121.html?rebelltitem=6#rebelltitem6
Damn. While I’ve never been through this kind of experience, I’ve had my share of uncomfortable and cringe worthy life dramas. Most of them had to do with being a female and a female of color.
Speaking up always contains a risk. But not speaking up can also weigh heavily, even years later. Again, I thank them both, and all others who decide to question or challenge harmful “traditions.”
CNN has an article on the response to Misty Copeland’s Instagram post:
“After legendary ballerina Misty Copeland called out the Bolshoi Theatre for its use of blackface in performances, the theatre told Russian state-run media that it would continue the practice despite the criticism. . . ”
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/misty-copeland-bolshoi-theater-trnd-style/index.html
I can only hope that conversation continues regarding this hurtful practice. I’m not naive to think it will completely stop. But this could be a teachable moment.
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Congratulations Miss Copeland!
Misty Copeland is now a principal dancer for the American Ballet Theater:
Excerpt:
“Even as her promotion was celebrated by her many fans, it raised all-too-familiar questions about why African-American dancers, particularly women, remain so underrepresented at top ballet companies in the 21st century, despite the work of pioneering black dancers who broke racial barriers in the past. And it showed how media and communications have changed in dance, with Ms. Copeland deftly using modern tools — an online ad she made for Under Armour has been viewed more than 8 million times — to spread her fame far beyond traditional dance circles, drawing new audiences to ballet.”
Misty Copeland is Promoted to Principal Dancer at American Ballet Theater
It took individuals both within and outside of ballet to publicly support Misty Copeland for this to happen, imho.
And let me also add: IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME. For more ballet trailblazers of color, please see this post: http://wikkidsexycool.com/2015/02/11/dance-trailblazers/
So, as I ready HUI for release, an ebook that features a fictional African American ballerina going for the Holy Grail like Miss Copeland, please take note that at this moment, Misty is the one and only. That’s right. For whatever reason, Miss Copeland is the only black woman in the role of principal dancer in a major US ballet company.
Book Excerpt:
Outside of Meredith’s office a number of dance students lingered in the hallway, waiting for their classes to begin. Some used the walls to support their weight as they stretched. Others utilized the comfort of the crowded floor. Making her way among the maze of human parts, Imani was almost mowed down by a younger group of students bursting out of one of the classrooms. Their excited chatter and giggles reminded her of the tiny dance academy she’d once attended. It was encouraging to see the diversity of the group and their excitement at seeing her.
“That’s Imani,” she heard one little girl whisper to the others as if Imani was on the cusp of greatness. “She’s so beautiful! I wanted to come here after I saw her perform at my grammar school,” the same little girl said, apparently not realizing how far her voice carried.