Misty Copeland Creates Program to Bring More Diversity to Ballet.
The American Ballet Theater dancer announced an extracurricular initiative that Copeland hopes will bring more Black and Latino children to dance.
The dance superstar Misty Copeland has often spoken about the impact of enrolling in a free ballet class when she was 13, on the basketball court of a Boys and Girls Club in San Pedro, Calif., where she grew up. The class set in motion Copeland’s remarkable career, which included in 2015 becoming the first Black woman to be promoted to principal dancer at American Ballet Theater.
Now Copeland, 40, would like to provide similar experiences to a new generation of dancers, especially Black and Latino students, who are underrepresented in ballet. She announced on Thursday that she was starting a free, 12-week program for children 8 to 10 years old, beginning this month with about 120 students at two Boys and Girls Clubs in New York City.
Copeland described the initiative, known as Be Bold, as “a culmination of my life’s work.” She said she had been inspired to create the program partly because of the Black Lives Matter movement and protests against racial injustice in the United States.
“It’s so important for me to give back to the community, as well as to show people that ballet should be and can be inclusive,” she said in an interview. “It’s giving opportunities to people that don’t feel that they are included in this elite art form, and offering a new approach to what ballet can look like.”
The program, which provides training in ballet, music and health, will be led by teaching artists selected by Copeland and employees of her foundation, which she created last year.'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/15/arts/dance/misty-copeland-diversity-ballet.html?
