Misty Copeland's Legacy
Misty Copeland’s upcoming retirement from American Ballet Theatre—where she made history as the first Black female principal dancer and subsequently shot to fame in the ballet world and beyond—means many things.
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How do dancers with disabilities navigate space? Who is defining space for disabled dancers? What are the objects that obstruct, block and blur? How do we define choreography within the framework of disability? Candoco Dance Company are, as ever, refining and redefining what it is to move in space, and how dancers of various abilities navigate this in their practice. They ask the questions that make other people shy away, because society is still not comfortable with disability. As an arts critic recently diagnosed with a disability, I became increasingly aware during lockdown of how I interact with day to day chores, the wobbly steps I take, and often see how many people try to walk through me as if I am invisible—they would rather I didn't exist. So these two short dance films resonated powerfully for me.
Welly O'Brien in Cuckoo directed by Caroline Darbyshire and Sophie de Oliveira Barata of the Alternative Limb Project
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Misty Copeland’s upcoming retirement from American Ballet Theatre—where she made history as the first Black female principal dancer and subsequently shot to fame in the ballet world and beyond—means many things.
PlusHaneul Jung oscillates between the definition of the Korean word, man-il meaning “ten thousand days” and “what if.”
PlusMoss Te Ururangi Patterson describes his choreographic process having a conversation with other elements. As he describes pushing himself under the waves, and a feeling of meditative, buoyancy as he floated in space, the impression of light beneath the water was paramount.
PlusThese days you’re hard pressed to use the internet without running into artificial intelligence.
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