Later this month, ballerina Misty Copeland will dance the lead in the American Ballet Theatre’s production of Swan Lake, perhaps the most famous of all ballets. It will be the first time an African-American ballerina will have performed the role of the Swan Queen for the ABT. The production will take place in Brisbane, Australia.
It’s been a busy year for Copeland. After being featured in a major advertising campaign for Under Armour, her bestselling memoir, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina, has been optioned for a film by New Line Cinema. The biopic will focus on her life from the age of 13 to her late teens. It’s being described by Deadline as “The Blind Side set in the dance world.” Critics like Laura Berger of Indiewire hope “issues of race will be addressed in a more nuanced way in this project.” Down in Australia, there’s hope that issues of race will vanish entirely–at least for a few exhilarating moments of pure grace, skill and beauty.
