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Tapfan

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Everything posted by Tapfan

  1. Nashville Ballet's Kayla Rowser rehearsing . Yes, there are black female classical dancers other than Misty. And hopefully her high profile will spark interest in some of them.
  2. This artlcle in Atlanta Black Star highlights other black ballerinas. Believe it or not, some of us black folks are interested in other black female dancers other than Misty, but because it's hard to get info on ballerinas of any color, for ballet dancers of color, it's next to impossible. I'm proud to say I'd heard about all these dancers except the young woman from POB. And even she was on the radar of some black ballet fans because we saw her in the POB defile du ballet.
  3. The publicity generated by Copeland's camp that some folks in these parts see as so intolerably vulgar, doesn't hurt ballet in any way. All your favorite performers are still dancing your favorite pieces and are still getting an overwhelming majority of the attention of those people who write about classical dance.
  4. Of course he has the right to free speech. It was just kinda hazy that this youtube post was just him, not his company.
  5. Of course there are basic skills that everyone must master before they can call themselves a ballet dancer. But perfection of body isn't always paramount, Margot Fonteyne would never have had a career otherwise.
  6. We seldom hear from people on this board who like aspects of Misty's dancing. It's nice to be reminded that when judging art and artists, it's ALL just opinion, not fact.
  7. Hmmm. It came up when I googled NYCB videos. I thought Devin was into photography and twitter where he's pretty funny in a smug sorta way. And I thought City ballet had some control over what is posted concerning their organization, especially after Devin joked about Martins' DUI on social media.
  8. Lots of pool parties. And raves. And the youtube comment section is where I got the idea.
  9. Now tell me doesn't look like a suburban Connecticut prep school or worse, an episode of HBO's "Girls." I hate that show. Bunch of entitled whining ninnies. NYCB needs better PR.
  10. There's not really anything in this article that hasn't already been said before in all the other articles on diversity in classical dance, but at least Virginia Johnson seems hopeful for the future.
  11. Where any of these schools' black females? Because that is the problem within a problem. When people speak about African Americans that they see in schools or companies, more often than not, they are talking about MALE dancers.
  12. Well good for him. And just because there are black ballerinas who have made mention of the additional hurdles they face because of race, doesn't mean that's all they think or talk about. Most love their jobs despite the additional challenges.
  13. I've never believed or stated that lack of racial diversity in ballet was due to racism only! There are many contributing factors, ALL of which must be addressed. But race is such a thorny issue in ANY context, that when it's brought up, people get defensive and claim it's a problem that no longer exists in ballet or one that can't be solved without hurting the quality of classical dance.
  14. Tapfan

    Courtney Lavine

    Am I the only person who cringes whenever the characters of Puss and Boots dance in most productions of Sleeping Beauty? The hip action that strains to look playfully naughty, always looks like dancing that was composed by someone who's heard about but never actually seen any popular social dance beginning with the twist. Geez it makes my teeth hurt with faux cuteness. As to Courtney Lavine, she is thin but she's not that diffrent in body type than many other dancers. She's not exactly some unicorn against whom all other black female ballet dancers should be measured. There are other black classical dancers who are thin, musical, well-trained, charismatic and elegant. Dara Holmes and Ashley Murphy come to mind.
  15. I've wondered why more Asian and Asian American ballet students aren't attending SAB. Also, if pushes for diversity are nothing but politically correct fascism from the left as some maintain, why do the people who don't like it and their supporters, capitulate? After all, most major U.S. companies at least claim to have some type of diversity initiative. For those folks who think such initiatives are a waste of time and money and are patently unfair, well, claiming that they are afraid of being called racists by opposing such programs, is a pretty lame excuse. Since they claim they are being called racists anyway, why not stake out the high moral ground and fight the good fight? Since they don't care about or even see color (which I guess means that they, like Stephen Colbert, don't see color because everyone defaults to white) they should be happy in the knowledge that nowadays, everyone that is hired and promoted by a ballet company is absolutely the best dancer because they've all been hired using that numerically measurable and universally accepted criterion for classical dancers that totally exists. Whew! What a relief to know that everything will always be merit-based in ballet.
  16. I disagree that a great many Asian and Hispanics in classical ballet have very dark skin. Most of the dancers of Asian descent are as fair or fairer than many Caucasians, as are many of the Latin dancers who consider themselves to be "brown." And of course many Latin dancers ARE Caucasian like Tamaro Rojo and Angel Corello. And you might be surprised to know that some of us who champion the ideal of racial diversity in ballet, aren't about greater black representation only. I'd like to see more people of all races and ethnicities in major companies. And I truly believe that artistic integrity need not be compromised to do so. Seeing an encouraging number of Asian and Asian American dancers in companies in Western Europe, the Antipodes, Canada and across the U.S., led me to ask in this thread, why there wasn't better Asian representation in NYCB. Not because City Ballet should want to look politically correct, but because people of Asian descent are over represented elsewhere.
  17. Tapfan

    Misty Copeland

    But isn't it possible to like Courtney Lavine as a dancer, want to see black female principles and still be too hard on Copeland? It's not that I think Misty or any dancer is above criticism. It's that I see much of the criticism directed at her as being excessive when you take into account to what she's actually doing. Yes, she is a tireless self-promoter whose hardscrabble story has grown bit stale for anyone who's been paying attention for any length of time, including me. But........... 1)To me, the accusations that she's constantly crying racism, are greatly exaggerated. She doesn't speak about racism any more than any other black person who finds themselves in an occupation with few people that look like them. 2)The accusations that she's taking opportunities away from other dancers, is bizarre when you consider the rent-a-star business model of ABT and the fact that despite her heavy self-promotion, she's still a soloist. 3)There's the fact that by no means is she universally viewed by dance writers OR balletomanes as being technically and artistically lacking. But to hear her detractors say it, you'd think this idea was a measurable fact that everyone agreed was true. 4) The implication that her co-workers hate her and are always talking smack about how much they hate her. With the ubiquity of social media, how could this even be possible nowadays and we not constantly see it?
  18. Tapfan

    Misty Copeland

    "and there are many" The truth is that MOST people in the U.S. don't follow ballet or any other classical performance art. And most don't feel they are missing out on anything when they don't. As to Misty making principle, she says it's still her goal, but even if she doesn't make it, she says she's found that her mission in life is to expose more girls of color to the art form. No matter what happens in her career, that will always be her biggest accomplishment and I think she now realizes that fact.
  19. Yet arguably, the three greatest ballet dancing legends were men. Nijinsky, Nureyev and Barysnikov.
  20. Tapfan

    Misty Copeland

    Excellent point.
  21. Tapfan

    Misty Copeland

    NYCB not a dancer's first choice? The devil you say?!
  22. Tapfan

    Misty Copeland

    I'd prefer they give it to San Francisco Ballet. Or The Joffrey. Or PNB. Or Houston Ballet. Let's face it. Almost all ballet companies in the U. S. have international rosters. But most allow consistent advancement from the corps de ballet, except for clunky ABT.
  23. Tapfan

    Misty Copeland

    Yep, trained at SAB and passed over by NYCB .
  24. Tapfan

    Misty Copeland

    Preach! Their marketing is an abomination. They seem to think people should come to see them just because they're an institution. And those stars they count on so much to fill the Met are famous mainly because they've made their names elsewhere.
  25. Tapfan

    Misty Copeland

    True, but Tai was trained at SAB and she danced at a company that was heavily influenced by NYCB. She's not exactly foreign to the Balanchine style. While training at SAB doesn't mean you'd automatically be a good instructor, it's not like her skills as a teacher and coach were completely unknown. She'd been doing both long before injury ended her dancing career. I suspect many people wonder, why are they interested in her now? Why'd they let prestigious schools in the Boston area scoop her up? To those who already view NYCB's so-called outreach with a suspicious eye, waiting 10 years after her retirement to ask her to sit on some committee, smacks of an organization that intends on tinkering only around the edges of the diversity issue.
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