As long as I’m in the Hip Hop Music Mood, or Mode, whichever you prefer, I might as well be in the Hip Hop Dance Mood. Whatever, the divine Misty Copeland – a super star of the American Ballet Theatre – struts her sublime dance stuff to the sublime Kendrick Lamar.

Ms. Copeland is particularly in the news these days because she will become, for what it’s worth, and it’s worth quite a bit, the first African American dancer to perform the dual roles of Odette Odile in Swan Lake at the Metropolitan Opera House next month.

Misty is a rather unusual dancer. Her body – size, build, height, musculature, all of it – not to mention her skin color, don’t fit the usual Balanchine “skinny ballet body” ideal. Nothing about her is traditional or expected. But I’m not going to tell you anymore, because you should just watch her dance.

Here are a few things to get you hooked. Read then watch. Or watch then read. Whichever you prefer.

An Unlikely Ballerina: The Rise of Misty Copeland:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/22/unlikely-ballerina

Misty Copeland: I will what I want:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY0cdXr_1MA

A Day in the Life of Misty Copeland:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-day-in-the-life-of-misty-copeland-1432827688?mod=trending_now_2

If Misty Copeland’s body is ‘wrong,’ I don’t want to be ‘right:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/08/05/misty_copeland_the_abt_ballerina_has_a_new_under_armour_ad_and_is_amazing.html

#MistyCopeland   #KendrickLamar   #OdetteOdile    #ABT   #HipHopBallet   

https://vimeo.com/125581646