"I was living a lie."
"Were you a good liar?"
"The best."
And so began the conversation in this evening’s edition of CBS 60 Minutes which basically was an hour that focused on two professional liars and manipulators.
The first, Jack Barsky, was a KGB agent and spy who lied his way through life in America. The second, Misty Copeland, is engrossed in an elaborate public campaign to get appointed as principal dancer at ABT, a position that historically was awarded based on artistic and technical excellence — which this happy promo piece clearly demonstrated she has not yet achieved.
This fifth-cast Princess Florine was shown struggling with simple hops on pointe, and the program editor failed to cut away before she started to fall off. This guest Odette in the minor municipal ballet company was shown with some of the most hideous, ugly, un-swanny arms and clunkish bourrees that we’ve ever been forced to watch. Her legs were hideous. Her feet were stiff. Her whole physique was hideous even for an amateur. To say she looked like a Trock would be too much of an insult to those talented fellows. This weak, lacking dancer was shown in her debut in a version of Coppelia watered down to eliminate the challenges that all the other dancers in the same role faced and cleared easily.
Once again, a major news organization, in this case CBS, failed to perform its due diligence before passing out Copeland’s false claims that she and her partner were the first African-American couple to dance Swan Lake in a major company. Even the New York Times had to run a correction when they swallowed her PR excrement without first sniffing it. Who the hell does Copeland think she is claiming that Dance Theatre of Harlem was not a major ballet company?
“American’s first black classical ballet company”
First ever black company to dance at Covent Garden (someone should tell Misty that’s where the Royal Ballet lives)
First black cultural group to tour the Soviet Union after a cultural program was granted renewed life
Featured at the Olympics’ ceremonies
Featured and regularly reviewed in The New York Times during their seasons in Manhattan
Featured on PBS
Founder awarded the National Medal of Arts
Founder awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
Who the hell does Copeland think she is claiming that Dance Theatre of Harlem was not a major ballet company, but that the little half-amateur Washington Ballet in which she stumbled through Swan Lake is some kind of a major ballet company? Maybe she thinks that Lydia Abarca and Ronald Perry who danced Swan Lake before her are actually blond Swedes pretending to be Black Americans.
CBS claims that a ballet company told Copeland that she would never make it in ballet. That’s a bald faced lie and Copeland and her team know it. No company ever told Copeland that she would never make it in ballet. It’s to the point now where she’s convinced that no one will ever even care to check out anything she says to ascertain that it’s the truth. So why bother with the truth when lies will get you what you want easier than honest hard work?
Did McKenzie really say that he wonders if she understands how important a symbol she could be and that it’s a big deal around here? Around where? Around his own wallet? The big fucking deal is that he is not promoting based on merit. The big fucking deal is that he’s handing out classical roles because Copeland and her team are squeezing his jewels to get her roles that she is clearly incapable of dancing. The answer to that: Oh, just change the god damn steps and say that she’s done them. Screw the better dancers who are losing opportunities to this fake. They're not black.
Copeland clearly believes that her own success is more important than the integrity of ballet.
Did McKenzie really try to claim that Copeland is musical and has wonderful proportions? Is he on drugs or does he have major cataracts? Those are two of her greatest faults – aside from her limited technical abilities and her disgusting personality. How anyone at ABT can work with this obnoxious, selfish diva is a miracle.
Copeland's narcissism, her exaggerated sense of self, her willful lying are at a level that ballet hasn’t seen before. She talked about how she feels when she’s dancing on stage when she does four pirouettes. When has Copeland EVER done four pirouettes? EVER?
And here we go with another ABT gala where the media is run by Misty Copeland and her hapless manager with one paying client. Oh boy, oh boy – Star Jones, Sherry Shepherd, Al Roker and every other overweight black talk show personality that Copeland's manager can scrape up to lead cheers for Misty. Who will the two of them drag here next and plead to help promote Any-Means-To-An-End- Misty?
And finally, how nice of Copeland on Mother’s Day to complain about her own mother on national television for trying to keep the family together. The truth is – so what if Misty Copeland had never become a professional ballet dancer? So what? In the grand scheme, does it really matter? She has yet to deliver ONE SINGLE SOLITARY performance of compelling artistry. She is nothing more than PR hype. Maybe Copeland would have become an accountant or a lawyer or an overweight talk show host. All of her siblings are successes; so, her mother must have been doing quite a few things right.
We close with a toast to all mothers everywhere and especially to those who suffer with ungrateful children.
34 responses to “Living a lie”
I don’t know about you Haglund, but when I see this I automatically think “Odette/Odile”:
https://balletthebestphotographs.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/misty-copeland-34/
I don’t know about you Haglund, but when I see this I automatically think “Odette/Odile”:
https://balletthebestphotographs.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/misty-copeland-34/
LOL. You had me there for a moment.
LOL. You had me there for a moment.
Haglund, not to take anything away from Arthur Mitchell and Virginia Johnson, but was DTH in fact ever on par, in the eyes of critics and true balletomanes, with the other “major” companies? That’s not a rhetorical question. I don’t know, but my impression is that it was not. Most if not all of the honors and press coverage you cite could have been given for the same reason Copeland is so much in the news today: race, and the breaking of racial boundaries. In other words, a generation from now, people who never saw her dance could call Copeland a major classical artist based on the same criteria you cite for DTH.
Haglund, not to take anything away from Arthur Mitchell and Virginia Johnson, but was DTH in fact ever on par, in the eyes of critics and true balletomanes, with the other “major” companies? That’s not a rhetorical question. I don’t know, but my impression is that it was not. Most if not all of the honors and press coverage you cite could have been given for the same reason Copeland is so much in the news today: race, and the breaking of racial boundaries. In other words, a generation from now, people who never saw her dance could call Copeland a major classical artist based on the same criteria you cite for DTH.
DTH was absolutely on par with other major companies in the country. While their foundation may have been Balanchine works, they extended their rep to 19th century classics including a wonderful Giselle set on them by Freddie Franklin. They had a huge following. Their talent and accomplishments were honest.
DTH was absolutely on par with other major companies in the country. While their foundation may have been Balanchine works, they extended their rep to 19th century classics including a wonderful Giselle set on them by Freddie Franklin. They had a huge following. Their talent and accomplishments were honest.
Good lord, that link to Misty’s photos, she might as well be competing as female bodybuilder. Those bulky muscles from arms on down to legs do not belong in classical ballet. Not just for aesthetics alone but classical technique cannot be mastered with such bulky physique.
Keep up with your commentary about MC and her self- promoting ways. Prime example of setting the bar low in order to promote diversity for diversity’s sake. In art there should be no affirmative action. Why is it okay to be labeled racist for pointing out many faults of MC’s dancing? When many balletomanes criticize Hee Seo’s weak technique, you don’t hear charges of racism hurled against you. Why? Because in today’s society, it is only racist if Aftican-Americans are involved, MC and her publicist know this and they milk it for all its worth.
Good lord, that link to Misty’s photos, she might as well be competing as female bodybuilder. Those bulky muscles from arms on down to legs do not belong in classical ballet. Not just for aesthetics alone but classical technique cannot be mastered with such bulky physique.
Keep up with your commentary about MC and her self- promoting ways. Prime example of setting the bar low in order to promote diversity for diversity’s sake. In art there should be no affirmative action. Why is it okay to be labeled racist for pointing out many faults of MC’s dancing? When many balletomanes criticize Hee Seo’s weak technique, you don’t hear charges of racism hurled against you. Why? Because in today’s society, it is only racist if Aftican-Americans are involved, MC and her publicist know this and they milk it for all its worth.
Hi Genna.
A lot of people who hurl the word racist don’t even know what it means. It’s just a hurl-word when the intelligence battery runs low. And of course, it’s a good one to use if one wants to incite violence, which often is the case.
Hi Genna.
A lot of people who hurl the word racist don’t even know what it means. It’s just a hurl-word when the intelligence battery runs low. And of course, it’s a good one to use if one wants to incite violence, which often is the case.
Hi Genna. Good point. As a person of color, her pr campaign to ultimately become principal, the first ever black/bi-racial to do so at ABT, is disappointing because it’s not the way that should’ve been done, imo. Hard work and perfecting technique and doing the dances they were choreographed for ages should’ve been the angle that she pursued. She could’ve proved that she’s worthy of the position by not having questionable technique. It’s dissappointing to hear that the choragraphy has to be watered down and her dancing isn’t as fluid as it should be. The 60 Minute piece sort of highlighted that.
Hi Genna. Good point. As a person of color, her pr campaign to ultimately become principal, the first ever black/bi-racial to do so at ABT, is disappointing because it’s not the way that should’ve been done, imo. Hard work and perfecting technique and doing the dances they were choreographed for ages should’ve been the angle that she pursued. She could’ve proved that she’s worthy of the position by not having questionable technique. It’s dissappointing to hear that the choragraphy has to be watered down and her dancing isn’t as fluid as it should be. The 60 Minute piece sort of highlighted that.
Hi JF. She may have pursued this media course because she didn’t believe that she could ever achieve the level she desired through hard work. She does seem to love the easy attention more than the difficult dancing.
Hi JF. She may have pursued this media course because she didn’t believe that she could ever achieve the level she desired through hard work. She does seem to love the easy attention more than the difficult dancing.
Ugh. I, too, am completely through with MC’s professional BS. As a pre-professional student, I think she sets a bad example with her raunchy Instagram photos, and making excuses for all her shortcomings. It just allows the next generation of ballerinas to become lazy and willing to settle for just so-so technique. Everywhere I turn, it seems as if I am hearing different excuses from her. Obviously she does not have a body that is ideal for classical ballet, but it is very possible for one to work to make their physique as balletic as possible (without having an eating disorder, mind you). She seems to be making no effort. I find it insulting that she is putting more work into publicity than her technique and artistry, while real artists with very capable bodies are slaving away in the corps. If she can will whatever she wants, maybe she should will her technique to be cleaner and start controlling that ghastly hyperextension.
Ugh. I, too, am completely through with MC’s professional BS. As a pre-professional student, I think she sets a bad example with her raunchy Instagram photos, and making excuses for all her shortcomings. It just allows the next generation of ballerinas to become lazy and willing to settle for just so-so technique. Everywhere I turn, it seems as if I am hearing different excuses from her. Obviously she does not have a body that is ideal for classical ballet, but it is very possible for one to work to make their physique as balletic as possible (without having an eating disorder, mind you). She seems to be making no effort. I find it insulting that she is putting more work into publicity than her technique and artistry, while real artists with very capable bodies are slaving away in the corps. If she can will whatever she wants, maybe she should will her technique to be cleaner and start controlling that ghastly hyperextension.
Hi Toria. It’s a relief to hear from a young dancer with your perspective. Thanks for stopping by H.H.
Hi Toria. It’s a relief to hear from a young dancer with your perspective. Thanks for stopping by H.H.
A towering prodigy…at 32? I thought that at 32 one was in the “mature ballerina” phase. But that was the stupid pseudo-journalist, who can’t be expected to know anything about ballet.
I had to gasp when MacKenzie raved about her perfect proportions. In whose world is Misty Copeland perfectly proportioned for ballet?
And about that ballet should “look like America” business, please.
Isn’t America in the midst of an obesity epidemic? Alright, that’s not what they mean. So let’s talk demographics, which is what they really are talking about.
Does the NBA look like America? Does the NFL? Should they? And what about when African-Americans get overtaken by Latinos as the biggest minority, which will happen in 2010 – if it has not already? Maybe Misty will become Latino then.
A towering prodigy…at 32? I thought that at 32 one was in the “mature ballerina” phase. But that was the stupid pseudo-journalist, who can’t be expected to know anything about ballet.
I had to gasp when MacKenzie raved about her perfect proportions. In whose world is Misty Copeland perfectly proportioned for ballet?
And about that ballet should “look like America” business, please.
Isn’t America in the midst of an obesity epidemic? Alright, that’s not what they mean. So let’s talk demographics, which is what they really are talking about.
Does the NBA look like America? Does the NFL? Should they? And what about when African-Americans get overtaken by Latinos as the biggest minority, which will happen in 2010 – if it has not already? Maybe Misty will become Latino then.
I wonder if she’s hidding an injury again and is pushing for the principal role just to make history. She looked stiff and clumsy during those clips in the 60 minute clips when she was n the white ballet dress. Cut to her fluidness of the Under Armor commercial, and it looked like a different dancer. IMO, I just feel that her time’s running out and she wants to go out on top and make history. Maybe she’s not that bad because she’s seen other dancers with questionalbe technique promoted to principal dancer, so why not launch her campaign and use the 2 things that make her standout; her skin color and muscular body.
I wonder if she’s hidding an injury again and is pushing for the principal role just to make history. She looked stiff and clumsy during those clips in the 60 minute clips when she was n the white ballet dress. Cut to her fluidness of the Under Armor commercial, and it looked like a different dancer. IMO, I just feel that her time’s running out and she wants to go out on top and make history. Maybe she’s not that bad because she’s seen other dancers with questionalbe technique promoted to principal dancer, so why not launch her campaign and use the 2 things that make her standout; her skin color and muscular body.
Why is 60 Minutes able to give intimate details of a KG spy’s life yet totally miss the boat when it comes to MC’s propaganda? Haglund, your post is literally what I was thinking as I was watching the tv. I am encouraged by Toria’s response and hope that other students see the hype. I hope for the world’s sake Mackenzie does not promote her.
Why is 60 Minutes able to give intimate details of a KG spy’s life yet totally miss the boat when it comes to MC’s propaganda? Haglund, your post is literally what I was thinking as I was watching the tv. I am encouraged by Toria’s response and hope that other students see the hype. I hope for the world’s sake Mackenzie does not promote her.
Hi SM.
When I was watching McKenzie in the brief clips on 60 Minutes and during the Guggenheim event, it seemed that he was showing unusual stress. He knows very well that Copeland isn’t good enough to be dancing (an honest version of) either Swan Lake or R&J. He knows that he is making many better dancers at ABT suffer by giving undeserved opportunities and attention to Copeland. He knows that the core audience disrespects him and the company for doing it. And he damn sure knows that Copeland is not worthy of being appointed a principal, and that he is holding back dancers who are.
McKenzie may think, like Copeland does, that her personal success is more important than the integrity of all of ballet simply because she’s part African-American. At this point in her development, she’s never going to advance to anything stellar in classical roles; so it’s now a matter of selling her and all of shortcomings to the public as something wonderful. ABT will forever be giving away large swaths of seats in order to fill her performances.
Hi SM.
When I was watching McKenzie in the brief clips on 60 Minutes and during the Guggenheim event, it seemed that he was showing unusual stress. He knows very well that Copeland isn’t good enough to be dancing (an honest version of) either Swan Lake or R&J. He knows that he is making many better dancers at ABT suffer by giving undeserved opportunities and attention to Copeland. He knows that the core audience disrespects him and the company for doing it. And he damn sure knows that Copeland is not worthy of being appointed a principal, and that he is holding back dancers who are.
McKenzie may think, like Copeland does, that her personal success is more important than the integrity of all of ballet simply because she’s part African-American. At this point in her development, she’s never going to advance to anything stellar in classical roles; so it’s now a matter of selling her and all of shortcomings to the public as something wonderful. ABT will forever be giving away large swaths of seats in order to fill her performances.
There is a documentary about ABT on PBS tonight. Wonder if it will deal with this issue. I guess it depends on who funded it. About MacKenzie looking stressed, well, he’s clearly under a lot of pressure from at least a faction of the Board to “do something.”
There is a documentary about ABT on PBS tonight. Wonder if it will deal with this issue. I guess it depends on who funded it. About MacKenzie looking stressed, well, he’s clearly under a lot of pressure from at least a faction of the Board to “do something.”
She knows that her pr campaign’s bs because look at what she says about the ABT during their 75 year anniversary PBS special.
http://www.thirteen.org/programs/american-masters/#misty-copeland-american-ballet-theatre-soloist
The special airs again on PBS tv station in NY Sunday May 17th at 12:30pm. It’s a very nice special where the focus is on the history of the company. IMO, Misty had to come straight because Ken Burns actually does his research and puts out factual documentaries.
Here’s the link to the entire program.
http://www.thirteen.org/programs/american-masters/
She knows that her pr campaign’s bs because look at what she says about the ABT during their 75 year anniversary PBS special.
http://www.thirteen.org/programs/american-masters/#misty-copeland-american-ballet-theatre-soloist
The special airs again on PBS tv station in NY Sunday May 17th at 12:30pm. It’s a very nice special where the focus is on the history of the company. IMO, Misty had to come straight because Ken Burns actually does his research and puts out factual documentaries.
Here’s the link to the entire program.
http://www.thirteen.org/programs/american-masters/
Rick Burns is Ken Burns’ brother. He is a fan, but no dance historian. A missed opportunity.
Rick Burns is Ken Burns’ brother. He is a fan, but no dance historian. A missed opportunity.