Wed 2/12 @ 6:30PM
The story of American Ballet Theatre principal dancer (the term for a dance company’s top stars) Misty Copeland is extraordinary in many ways. Much has been made of the fact that she was the first black woman principal dancer in such a major ballet company, but there is much, much more that made her story unusual.
For one, she didn’t even start dancing until she was 13, the age when most female dancers, having studied for six or seven years, finally begin to dance en pointe. She was dancing en pointe three months later! During her high school years, her life was in turmoil due to a high-profile custody battle with her mother and dance teachers that even involved celebrity attorney Gloria Allred.
Once her prodigious talent earned her a spot in American Ballet Theatre, she struggled with cultural as well as physical issues. In trying to overcome the injuries that plague high-level ballet dancers, she developed a womanly body that contrasted with the gaunt, boyish figures required of most professional ballerinas. Again, her talent blew past this barrier and she was appointed a principal dancer in 2015.
Since then, Copeland, now 37, has become a celebrity who have appeared on magazine covers, TV and ads, as well as on Broadway in a revival of Leonard Bernstein’s On The Town. It’s that connection that’s responsible for the Maltz Museum booking the 2016 film A Ballerina’s Tale that covers all these issues in telling Copeland’s story. The Maltz’s exhibit Leonard Bernstein: The Power of Music remains on view through Sun 3/1.
The film screening will be followed by a talk back with dancer and educator Alexandria Lattimore, formerly with Verb Ballets and now a dance teacher at Karamu. It’s $10 admission, $5 for Maltz members. Reserve your spot here.
https://www.maltzmuseum.org/event/film-screening-talk-back-a-ballerinas-tale/
https://22382.blackbaudhosting.com/22382/Film-Screening-and-Talk-Back-A-Ballerinas-Tale