Kara Young, already on a Broadway streak, could make Tony history with her role in 'Purpose'

NEW YORK — Don't bother asking Kara Young which one of her roles is her favorite. They're all her favorite.
'Every single time I'm doing a show, I feel like it is the most important thing on the planet,' she says. 'I don't have a favorite. It's like this: Every, every single project has held its own weight.'

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Misty Copeland Changed Ballet. Now She's Ready to Move On.

New York Times

23 minutes ago

New York Times

Misty Copeland Changed Ballet. Now She's Ready to Move On.

After 25 years with the company, Misty Copeland is retiring from American Ballet Theater. While the departure of ballet's biggest crossover star is certainly a momentous occasion, it's also not exactly a surprise. The 42-year-old has been away from the Lincoln Center stage for five years, spending that time raising a son with her attorney husband, Olu Evans, and working with her namesake foundation, which aims to bring greater diversity, equity and inclusion to the dance world — at a time when that mission is newly fraught. Copeland will give a farewell performance with A.B.T. this fall, putting a cap on a career that was both groundbreaking and improbable. She grew up in near poverty in Southern California and was frequently homeless, her mother struggling to make ends meet for Misty and her five siblings. Eventually, she found solace and stability in dance, though she didn't seriously pursue the art form till she was 13 — late for a budding ballerina. Despite that, and the historical struggles for people of color to break into the often hidebound world of classical dance, she eventually joined A.B.T. in 2001, and after a 15-year climb, she became the first Black woman ever to be named a principal dancer with the company. Speaking with me last month, Copeland explained that although she was personally at peace with the decision, she also knows that she is stepping away at a difficult cultural moment. The whole idea of D.E.I., the value of which she came to both embody and now works to promote, is under political attack, and arts institutions are being forced to reckon with partisan antagonism. So there was a lot for her to wrestle with as she looked back on the legacy she will leave behind and ahead to the rest of her life. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | iHeart | NYT Audio App You've been ramping down dancing for a while. Why does now feel like the time to make an official retirement announcement? In all honesty, I've wanted to fade away into the background, which is not really possible. The legacy of what I've created, the way that I'm carrying so many stories of Black dancers who have come before me — I can't just disappear. There has to be an official closing to my time at American Ballet Theater, this company that has meant everything to me. It was in 2019 that I was processing that I think this is the end of this chapter, and though I wasn't saying it out loud to the world, I've already moved on to that next place of what I want to be doing. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.