The amazing Misty Copeland channels Degas for a new MoMA exhibit:
Copeland says that’s part of the reason she found posing for the images that accompany this story—which were inspired by Edgar Degas’s paintings and sculptures of dancers at the Paris Opéra Ballet—a challenge. “It was interesting to be on a shoot and to not have the freedom to just create like I normally do with my body,” she says. “Trying to re-create what Degas did was really difficult. It was amazing just to notice all of the small details but also how he still allows you to feel like there’s movement. That’s what I think is so beautiful and difficult about dance too. You’re trying to strive for this perfection, but you still want people to get that illusion that your line never ends and that you never stop moving.”
Who is Misty Copeland?
Copeland is the first African American ballerina named to the position of Principal Dancer for the American Ballet Theatre, considered the best American company for classical ballet. A ballet prodigy, she was dancing en pointe within three months of taking her first dance class. An ‘unlikely ballerina‘, she has become one of the most famous ballet stars in the world.