Ballet To The People

Just four days after Misty Copeland’s final guest turn in Washington Ballet’s Swan Lake, she was named one of TIME magazine’s “100 most influential people of 2014.” (We particularly love the fact that, of the five magazine covers that introduced the hoopla, only Copeland’s featured a full-body shot.)

The ballet world should rejoice – because the significance of the cover of TIME is not just about Copeland, it’s about the revival of popular interest in an art form that has been branded as elitist and irrelevant, that has effectively been on life support since the turn of the 21st century.

In my review of her April 12th performance of Swan Lake (click here to read the review in its entirety on Bachtrack), I noted:

The Washington Ballet’s first full-length Swan Lake in its 70-year history, partnered by the Evermay Chamber Orchestra in its first foray through Tchaikovsky’s mythical topography, did something wondrous at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater last week – quite apart from the magic that transpired on stage. It enticed a remarkably young, diverse and hip crowd into the theatre. For that achievement alone, keepers of the ballet flame should sing hallelujah. A mix of aficionados and ballet virgins – the latter lured, in part, by the celebrity of guest star Misty Copeland, Under Armour spokesmodel and author of a provocative memoir – packed the house for the seven-performance run, during which Copeland appeared twice, in a rare African-American pairing with Brooklyn Mack.

Whether Copeland reaches the pinnacle of classical ballerinadom remains to be seen. But, at a time when the ballet world is in precipitous decline, her celebrity is a lifeline. Thousands of people who have had little interest in ballet (marketing fail) are buying tickets, getting all dressed up, and silencing their cellphones.