Latest news with #MistyCopeland
Vogue
3 days ago
- Health
- Vogue
Legs And The City: Why This Summer Is Going To Be The Season of My Legs
My legs: muscular during my years of playing varsity soccer and basketball and running track; long and sinewy in my later adult life; milky-pale every winter, yet sunburned often and easily in the summer. They've carried me up endless flights of stairs, and walked me down the runway at a fashion show. Lately they've been swollen, bruised, dotted with needle holes and—when I dissociate from them as my own—almost grotesquely beautiful for the thick brown striations zig-zagging down my calves like a variety of Italian marble. Those lines are traces of veins that no longer function. A vascular specialist informed me back in November that they weren't working sufficiently, which is more detrimental to my health than not working at all, surprisingly. And so we're in the process of destroying them, one by one. Systems re-route, and other veins will pick up the slack. The body is an incredible thing! With my legs in their current condition, I can't stop ogling at the gams on others: Tyla shimmering like a disco ball in a sequined dress slit up to her waist; ballet dancer Misty Copeland's graceful choreography in the short film 'Flower,' the flocks of women donning Cecilie Bahsen's ruffly, bubble-hemmed minidresses outside the designer's most recent fashion show in Paris; a Calvin Klein ad featuring Lily Collins, outfitted in just a blazer and sheer black hosiery, sitting with her legs coquettishly twisted and then splayed out on the ground. Collins's gaze is strong, but it's her legs that make this power pose. There are also my favorite fitness instructor's legs: sturdy, muscular, reliable limbs that obey on command; legs that don't let her down. Everyone has better legs than me these days, simply for their ability to flaunt them. I've been reluctant to write about my ongoing lower body hangup because I didn't want to cast it as a revelation about my condition. I haven't shared my months-long treatments on social media, mostly because those sorts of public disclosures aren't really my style. But also, I know that my situation could be much worse. For once in my life, I'm actually unbothered by New York's cold winter months when going bare-legged isn't even a question. And it turns out the compression stockings I've had to wear under my clothes for weeks at a time are as warm as my Heattech layers. I've even had fun finding new ways to make sweatpants look chic, or styling my Adidas track pants with Kallmeyer blazers and other 'business-up-top' options. And on the occasions that I do wear a skirt or dress—midi to longer lengths—my tall, faux croc Dôen boots have become my reliable slip-ons.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Muses Creative Artistry Project presents Broadway-style performance with classic Disney songs
TEXARKANA, Texas (KTAL/KMSS)—The Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council (TRAHC) is bringing a Broadway-style, Disney-inspired show to town. The Muses Creative Artistry Project will remix classic Disney songs to showcase the talents of their own singers, dancers, and instrumentalists in a 'best of' performance. Disney, like you remember, but not exactly what you remember. TRAHC Executive Director Jennifer Unger said, 'We are thrilled to welcome The Muses back to Texarkana. The Muses always put on a spectacular show, and we love having them fill Cabe Hall with their beautiful voices.' The Muses, based out of the Muses Cultural Arts Center in Hot Springs, Arkansas, tour the region. They present over 30 multi-art programs per year. Performances incorporate visual art, vocal and instrumental music, dance, poetry, and drama. Misty Copeland's new picture story, 'Bunheads, Act 2,' will be out in September General Director of The Muses Deleen Davidson considers their mission as, '…to preservethe Classical Arts through performance and education, making each performance enriching toyour Community, accessible and enjoyable for all ages.' Tickets are on sale for Broadway: Disney Cabaret by The Muses will take place on Thursday, June 12, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Regional Arts Center. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
USA Today
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Misty Copeland shares essential advice from Prince, favorite dish to cook, self-care tips
Misty Copeland shares essential advice from Prince, favorite dish to cook, self-care tips In USA TODAY's The Essentials, celebrities share what fuels their lives, whether it's at home, on set, or on the road. Misty Copeland is paying it forward – both on and off the dance floor. The American Ballet Theatre principal dancer, still dancing but now at a new stage of her career as a mom, foundation owner and mentor, is sharing her advice for teens in a new book. 'Letters to Misty' (out now from Simon & Schuster) compiles fan notes the ballerina has received over her decades-long career. As the first Black woman to become a principal dancer at the ABT, Copeland has long inspired young performers, especially dancers of color. She shares with USA TODAY the best tips she's learned for self-care and confidence. Prince gave Misty Copeland key advice for confidence In 'Letters to Misty,' Copeland, 42, teaches teens that confidence is something you have to practice. 'It's working a muscle, it's putting in the reps and having a support system around you,' Copeland says. 'The ballet mistresses or the coaches or the teachers around you are there to help and guide you, but it's up to you to be consistent." As a young dancer, she was often the only Black girl in the room. Throughout her several collaborations with Prince, she said the 'Purple Rain' singer gave her advice she'll never forget: Uniqueness and individuality are strengths. 'I was coming from this place of fear and wanting to shrink myself in order to fit in and he was like 'What are you talking about? There's so much power in being the only one out there,' ' she says. ''You're holding your attention – now what are you going to do with the opportunity?'' Mentors are an essential part of Misty Copeland's journey A support squad is also crucial to building confidence, Copeland says. Her local childhood Boys and Girls Club (where she took her first ballet class) helped her establish healthy mentor figures from a young age. Her first ballet teacher was a key role model. She also looks up to fellow dancers Alicia Graf Mack, Raven Wilkinson (who Copeland's 2022 book 'The Wind at My Back' is about), Lauren Anderson, actress Victoria Rowell and producer Susan Fales-Hill. 'Throughout my career, so many incredible women, and specifically Black women, have really been like the backbone of my success,' Copeland says. 'That, naturally and organically, taught me the importance of being a mentor.' Misty Copeland's favorite social media accounts help her stay 'zen' In 'Letters to Misty,' young readers ask Copeland about staying true to themselves in the digital age and how to navigate an often toxic social media landscape. 'I really suggest surrounding yourself, following people that are more aligned with your own values and being able to shut it off and say 'What's important are the people who are actually in my life that are there for me,'' she says. Her favorites include culinary icon Ina Garten, photographer Mark Seliger, art curator Thelma Golden and any of the Aman hotel properties, which make her feel 'so zen just looking at them.' How Misty Copeland recharges: 'A necessity and not a luxury' Rest is a self-care priority to Copeland, telling teens in 'Letters to Misty' it's 'a necessity, not a luxury.' When she's in the dance studio for eight hours a day, a day off has a leisurely start, sleeping in late and stretching. On the second day of her weekend, she'll take a Pilates class, nap more, drink lots of fluids and eat nutritious meals. She also ices her body with her Game Ready ice machine, which keeps her blood circulating and reduces inflammation. You'll also find her dabbling in some 'terrible TV' and listening to Kendrick Lamar, Mariah Carey, Anita Baker, or Sade. One of her favorite ways to unwind is to cook, especially her signature citrus salmon dish that she once made for Garten herself. Copeland broils her fish in a homemade marinade of brown sugar, orange juice, soy sauce and white wine vinegar, pairing it with sweet potato mash on the side. 'One of my favorite things is opening the refrigerator and there's nothing in there and you're like, how can I make something work? It's this creative challenge,' Copeland says. Journaling is also a key part of her routine and has been since she was young. She often journals when she's on the road or in hotel rooms and saves every finished notebook to look back on later. 'It's such a healthy way to process things and also to document,' she says. Need a new book?: 15 new releases you can read right now Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter, or tell her what you're reading at cmulroy@
CBS News
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Ballerina Misty Copeland uses letters from fans, personal experiences to offer advice in new book
Ballerina Misty Copeland has been an inspiration on and off the dance floor for many. She made history nearly a decade ago as the first Black female principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre. Through Copeland's new book, "Letters to Misty: How to move through Life with Confidence and Grace," she's continuing to help others. "It feels amazing to have young people come to me and trust me with these things that are — can be very sensitive matters," she said. In an interview with "CBS Mornings," Copeland said the book is not just for dancers. It offers advice to young readers on issues like body image and friendship, based on letters she's received from fans throughout her career. "It's specifically for young people that, you know, I think are coming of age … dealing with confidence issues or just navigating through life, relationships, with their parents, with their friends, figuring out who it is they want to be." Copeland took her first ballet lesson at 13 years old and never thought she would become someone that people come to for advice, describing herself as introverted. "I feel like that's what I think people are drawn to is that I've always been someone who observes and I listen and I think that that's just my nature so people feel comfortable sharing things with me," Copeland said. "It's not just been through letters, it's young people that just come up to me. I mean, on the street and they hug me and they want to tell me everything and I'm like, this is amazing to be in a position — a trusted position." Copeland said it's been important for her to be vulnerable and connect to her audiences by sharing her own life experiences. "I mean, we get really personal. We're talking about going through puberty, just what young people experience, what it is to have a friend for a period of time and then not have them in your life anymore, and make that decision whether or not there's someone that's going to bring value to your life." For 25 years, she's been a professional dancer for the American Ballet Theatre. Copeland said she is grateful for dance education and diversity in the arts. "You may be all doing the same choreography, choreography from the 1800s, but someone who's from Argentina grew up listening to different types of music and eating a different type of food and this choreography is going to come out of them and be completely different from someone who grew up in Ohio. … That's what's beautiful about the complexity of diversity." While she hasn't performed for five years — and welcomed her first child — Copeland revealed she's working on a return. "It's happening. It's happening. I'm back in the studio. I'm getting back in shape and gearing up for something to come," she said. "Letters to Misty" goes on sale on Tuesday.
The Guardian
21-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
What do we mean when we say women can be ‘too muscular'?
What does it mean when we call a woman 'too muscular'? A muscular woman has historically been a difficult woman. The way we perceive beauty in the muscular form is influenced by many factors, not least of which is gender, and it goes far beyond aesthetics. 'Too muscular' can call into question one's identity as a woman: are you a real woman if your muscles are bigger than the societal norm? 'Too muscular' can also be accusatory: are you a cheat, guilty of using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs? At a 2017 talk with students at Harvard, the ballet superstar Misty Copeland spoke about close-minded ideals of beauty. 'Why am I being told my body is too muscular?' she said. 'It's code language for your skin is wrong.' The tennis great Serena Williams, in a 2016 interview with the Guardian, said that she has been described as 'too muscly and too masculine, and then a week later too racy and too sexy'. In white-dominated spaces like ballet and tennis, 'too muscular' can be code-speak for 'too Black', for bodies that don't belong – often jumbling up issues of femininity, race and power. 'Too muscular' is also used to disparage transgender women and intersex athletes with naturally high levels of testosterone. The growing controversy over the participation of transgender women in athletic competition is rooted in muscle, and the perceived unfairness of muscles that come with puberty. This, of course, disrupts the long-standing division of sports participation based on sex. The recent establishment of non-binary divisions for major marathons including the Boston Marathon and the New York City Marathon is one way that organizers of athletic competitions are addressing the issue. There will undoubtedly be more rethinking to come. All kinds of wacky theories around hormones have been used to delegitimize women in power, connecting the body to the body politic: menopause has been called out as something that makes women unstable leaders (see: Clinton, Hillary), and yet testosterone is the hormone that actually makes people reckless (see: Clinton, Bill). All this is to say that pseudoscience has long governed norms around women's anatomy and biology – and, by extension, their strength and power in society. Maybe our viewing habits around muscular beauty have become a bit rigid. If we go back to the muscle itself, could that loosen up – and maybe even stretch – our thinking? Amber Fitzsimmons is a modern-day anatomist – a professor of anatomy and chair of the department of physical therapy and rehabilitation science at the University of San Francisco, California (UCSF) who instructs students at one of the top medical schools in the country. She is also a physical therapist who has seen all kinds of real bodies enter the clinic. During my visit to her anatomy lab to observe a dissection, I asked what 'too muscular' means to her, and she reminded me that Americans have been socialized to not want to see the female weightlifter body, the bulked-up form that became especially taboo in the 1970s and 80s. ''Too muscular' means 'too masculine',' Fitzsimmons said matter-of-factly. 'You don't want to be seen as a man. And that fear still persists around women and exercise.' Before our dissection, she'd gathered an audience of anatomist colleagues – Dana Rohde, Barbie Klein and Maddie Norris, all instructors and researchers at UCSF – on my behalf, to help unpack the vocabulary of muscle and where the gendering of those ideals comes from. Swimmers' shoulders. Runners' legs. Gymnasts' abs. Dancers' posture. These phrases summon up different body types, all admired in one circle or another. They raise the question of what is behind the appeal of specific muscles and the characteristics they connote. Look at the way 'muscle' insinuates itself into the lexicon. Synonyms for muscle include potency and domination. When you force someone to agree with you, you're strong-arming them. To make a muscle, you contract your biceps – or more accurately, the biceps brachii. There is no more stereotypical symbol of strength than the bent-arm curl – in fact, it's the stand-in for all muscle (see: emoji). And yet, despite its visible prominence, Fitzsimmons explained, the biceps is the strongest arm muscle only when the arm is in this 'Popeye' position – otherwise, it's the brachialis, a deeper, 'pure flexor' muscle in the upper arm, which generates the most force, relegating the biceps to a supporting role. What does a person who studies and teaches anatomy think when they see muscles on display? The room started buzzing with debate. 'Well, if you look at bodybuilders,' Rohde said, 'sometimes their muscles are all for show – all that bulk makes it difficult for them to walk, and their lats are too big for a natural arm swing.' Contrast this with gymnasts, Klein pointed out: 'They can lift their whole bodies with their hands, with such control – for me, what makes a muscle beautiful always goes back to function.' Sign up to Well Actually Practical advice, expert insights and answers to your questions about how to live a good life after newsletter promotion Form and function: I thought about Marvel superheroes. Are their muscles functional? When my brother and I were kids, our father gave us comic books – X-Men, Wolverine, Dark Phoenix – to motivate us to draw human anatomy. We were instructed to study superhero physiques and practice sketching. What I absorbed from those comic books – other than the multiverse of stories, which I loved – was that male superheroes were top-heavy with biceps and that female superheroes were top-heavy with boobs. And that drawing that fictive landscape of muscles was a lesson in the American cultural psyche, with impossible ideals. I wondered aloud: 'What if you were a Hollywood trainer for a superhero movie? What specific muscles would you target to give the appearance of strength, on the ideal body, to an American audience?' 'Let's start with a quintessential male superhero: Captain America,' Fitzsimmons said. 'Certainly, the arms – triceps, biceps. Then deltoids, pectorals and latissimus dorsi, to create the exaggerated triangle from wide shoulders to a narrow waist. They overbuild the upper trapezius – that's around the neck – for a wide shoulder, then define the thorax with the external obliques' – the most superficial of the lateral abdominal muscles. And, finally, the rectus abdominis – the six-pack. 'It's funny that if we see someone with a six-pack, we automatically think they're strong and really fit,' Klein added thoughtfully. 'But they might just be naturally leaner.' Our discomfort with muscles begins when we move too far into that same territory for a woman. 'The female equivalent is not equivalent at all,' Ftizsimmons said. 'Female superheroes are strong, but they'll have boobs and a bottom. Smaller shoulders – not too wide. You'll have a flat stomach, but you won't see a supercut six-pack. Enhanced hips and glutes, tapering to a narrow waist – a controlled hourglass. You can't be too extra. If you see the thick neck, thighs and wide shoulders that we expect on a man, it throws people off – and that's because we've been conditioned that way.' In other words, we allow a greater spectrum of muscular beauty for men – from the lean, wiry marathon body to the big, beefcake muscles of the heavyweight wrestling body. Even among female athletes themselves, there is a self-perceived conflict between their 'performance body' in the sports context and their 'appearance body' in the social world – across multiple studies of NCAA athletes in different sports, women have expressed pride in the utility of their muscularity on the playing field, but also worry that those same muscles would make wearing jeans or dresses look 'abnormal'; they compensate by holding back in the weight room to avoid getting 'too big' and by wearing makeup to emphasize their femininity. When it comes to the superhero body, it's all about signaling fitness and outward muscular appeal rather than actual function, no matter what the gender. Theirs are the muscles that we – the audience – are indoctrinated to receive. We absorb that information into our daily lives and respond in kind. 'All you need to do is go to a gym and see what's happening there,' Fitzsimmons said. 'It trickles down.' This kind of thinking, it turns out, isn't just Marvel comics, Hollywood superficiality, and gym culture talking – it's embedded in our medical textbooks too. In these ways, muscle iconography in modern society can be harmful to men, too. The social psychologist Jaclyn A Siegel has studied how the stereotypical male body ideal contributes to eating and muscle dysmorphic disorders. In the attempt to become muscular, she has said, men are vulnerable to 'the masculine norms of dominance, confidence, sexual success, and physical and emotional self-control', which make them susceptible to eating disorders. In fact, the quiet increase of boys and men seeking help for disordered eating, excessive exercise and performance-enhancing substance abuse reveals how surface ideals of muscularity can hurt us all. Thankfully, little shifts are happening all the time. Norms vary by culture and geography, and they aren't static. Medical textbooks are beginning to feature more varied bodies; influential athletes are becoming more visible and vocal about body image and mental health; and women of all ages are lifting heavy at the gym – often because doctors have begun prescribing them that regular dose of iron. Maybe you've heard of 'Granny Guns', AKA Marlene Flowers, the 68-year-old social media sensation who started lifting weights a decade ago and is now followed by millions. Her witty, satirical videos challenge stereotypes around ageing women and strength, and encourage others to follow her example. I know I am. Bonnie Tsui is the author of On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters, out tomorrow
