I know Misty Copeland has been getting a lot of press lately for her recent (well-deserved) promotion to American Ballet Theatre. That's a big deal, a huge deal, but it's not what I'm going to talk about here. What I'm currently clasping my hands in delight over is the fact that Copeland is making her Broadway debut and performing in ON THE TOWN at the Lyric Theater.
It makes sense, really. ON THE TOWN is dance (indeed, ballet) heavy for a musical, and she's a delightful choice for the part. To be fair, she's not really a singer. But does she really need to do everything when she does what she does so very well? (For that matter, do any of us? Could we all just own what we're really good at, and be enough for once?)
But the truly magical thing for me here is that, as an artist, she has bravely thrown herself headlong into a milieu that is not her forte. She didn't say, "Eh, you know what, I'm not really a trained singer. I don't know if I can pull off a Broadway musical. I think I'll pass." What she said, and what she's saying every night that she's out there on that stage, is Yes; let's do this. She's knocking the ball out of the park for what she's there to do, widening her creative reach, and allowing herself to play.
Here's to all of us doing a little more of that.
No comments:
Post a Comment