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Misty Copeland & Brooklyn Mack to Make Historic Debut in Swan Lake

For the first time in dance history, a major company will perform the ballet “Swan Lake” with two African-American lead dancers — Misty Copeland will take on the lead as Odette/Odile, while her love interest, Prince Siegfried, will be danced by the Washington Ballet Theatre’s Brooklyn Mack. The two will effectively shatter the all-white stereotype of “Swan Lake,” the most traditional of ballets.

Black dancers have been rare in leading ballet roles with major companies, especially in classical works such as “Swan Lake,” in which the star is traditionally white and waiflike.

Copeland said in a statement: “It certainly goes against traditional casting. I am so pleased to have the opportunity to show that African American ballerinas can also conform to the traditional vision for a swan as feminine and sylph-like while also being artistically and physically powerful.”

Septime Webre, artistic director of the Washington Ballet, called the event history in the making, and said that it challenges the paradigms about how principal dancers in classical roles should look.

“The ballet world has had a history of a glass ceiling of sorts for African-American male dancers to a degree but certainly ballerinas,” said Webre. “So it’s been exciting to question the notion of what Swan Lake should be about!”

The Washington Ballet production of “Swan Lake” debuts in April 2015.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/misty-copeland-to-make-swan-lake-debut-with-washington-ballet/2014/11/12/6765ca90-6a19-11e4-b053-65cea7903f2e_story.html

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I really enjoyed Beyond The Lights! I wasn’t sure that I would like it because I was concerned (from the trailer) how suicide ideation and a suicide attempt would be handled. (This topic is sensitive for me.) I did not want to see a story where a cishet romantic relationship was...

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Steven Spielberg on the set of Jaws (1975)

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First look: new character posters for Macbeth with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard.

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X-Men Premiere, 2000

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Dorothy Dandridge photographed by Ed Clark, 1951

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Ryan Gosling at the “Lost River” photocall during the 67th Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 20

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Absolutely LOVED this film.

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Loved the film! So glad Piz is finally out of the picture...

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5 Actresses Directing Films in 2014

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From the second annual Black Comics Expo’s Women in Comics Panel: Regine Sawyer, Alitha Martinez, Jennifer Cruté, Barbara Brandon, and Juliana Smith. Black comic excellence, y’all. And many thanks to Kia Barbee for the excellent photo!

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The screenwriter's first sale becomes a shark thriller with Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez

Watched this film again today. Combines my love of sharks and South Africa! Fingers crossed, I will cage dive with great whites this summer!

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The Dark Knight Rises by Mark Schilder

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I was raised within the Jamaican culture in Britain. I was surrounded by these incredibly powerful women growing up—independent, opinionated, strong-willed women, like my mum and my aunt. But what always shocks me is that I don’t really see those women being represented in film. I see a woman who is a kind of adjunct to a male story and doesn’t really influence how the story goes. The men kind of go off and do the brave things and the women kind of wait at home, cowering while the dragons are slain. And from my experience growing up in a Jamaican culture, that’s not at all how it was. The women would be going out to slay the dragons alongside the men, if the story were told from their perspective. [x]

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In a community where everyone asks about what you do and no one asks about what you love, it’s easy to become discouraged and uninspired. Many of us cease to think of ourselves as “artists” as our minds and our days are consumed with the tedium of the jobs we take on to afford living in New York. So what’s the point?

I Am Not My Job: Why I Left New York City |  (via thatkindofwoman)

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So nice to hear from the director, this was a film I screened for a local festival.

We’re looking back at some of our favorite interviews from 2013. During this year’s Festival, Lily filmmaker Matt Creed spoke to us about the challenges of shooting in New York City.

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The director of this "contained thriller on wheels" explains how he did it - and, for that matter, why.

"It’s tricky filming in a car. You don’t have the normal cinematic conventions of master shots and singles, it’s a whole other language. But what I did was just scale it all down so that the wide would be the whole car interior, and the tight shot would be on Paul’s eyes. There was a learning curve for us all as we went along, but I really wanted to do this, try something different... We wanted to engage the audience in a new way. So, while we had to learn a few things as we were going, I think it paid off. We have something that looks different and feels different."

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Nicely done. When watching, I did not even realize it was shot entirely within a car. Definitely check out the special features if you watch the DVD!