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  • Kanye West Jumps Into Armenia’s Swan Lake During Concert, Epic Mayhem Ensues

    Kanye West, for some unknown reason, decided he would jump into Armenia’s Swan Lake while performing a free concert on the banks of the lake Sunday, leading to hundreds of concert-goers deciding to follow suit.

    The mayhem that ensued was epic and led to police shutting down the concert.

    On a trip with wife Kim Kardashian, daughter North West, sister-in-law Khloe Kardashian, and two cousins on a tour of Armenia in search of their ancestral roots, Kanye West arranged a free concert for his Armenian fans.

    For the family’s final evening in the country, Kanye West held the impromptu concert on the edge of the capital’s famous Swan Lake at midnight and was live-streamed on YouTube.

    During his performance of “Good Life,” Kanye West decided he’d do a swan dive into the water of swan lake — well, not really, he jumped.

    “It’s a problem,” the rapper screamed.

    “Can y’all see me over there?” he asked fans on the far side of the lake.

    “We’re going to do something different, like, like, like we always do,” he screamed, before running and jumping into the lake.

    What happened next may have even surprised Kanye West. Hundreds of fans decided they would join the rapper in the water. Quickly on their heels came photogs and security, leading to absolute chaos.

    Police rescued Kanye West from the mayhem and closed down the concert completely.

    Later that night, Kim Kardashian tweeted that she knew nothing of Kanye West’s plans to jump into the lake.

  • Misty Copeland: An Unlikely Ballerina’s Rise to Fame From Tumultuous Childhood to Center Stage

    Misty Copeland is the only African-American soloist with the American Ballet Theatre, however, her rise to fame was a bumpy one.

    The 32-year-old California native said she began dancing to escape a tumultuous childhood as one of six children. Her mother married and remarried four times, and her home life was anything but settled.

    “Whenever there was chaos in my house, whether it was arguing, being in a cramped space with all of us kids and screaming, I found an empty space where I could just put music on and move,” Copeland told Anthony Mason for CBS Sunday Morning.

    “We were just all together, the Copelands, trying to survive,” she said.

    Copland, who recently released her memoir, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina, began studying dance in earnest at 13, at the suggestion of a teacher. Her dance teachers, Cindy and Patrick Bradley, invited the young dancer to move in with them to focus on her training. However, trouble soon erupted when the Bradleys were taken to court in a very public custody dispute with Copeland’s mother, who wanted her daughter to come home.

    “I still feel like it’s scarred me,” Copeland said. “And it’s something a child of 15 years old should never experience. But I made it through and I’m here.”

    Her first break came at 18, when she began dancing for the American Ballet Theatre and became the first African-American soloist with the company in 2012, when she was given the lead in Stravinsky’s Firebird. That role was followed by the principal role in Swan Lake, a sort of holy grail for any ballet dancer.

    “It’s what ballet is,” she said. “It’s kind of reaching the pinnacle. It’s the most challenging in every way, but to be a black woman and to be given that role is even bigger.”

  • Misty Copeland To Dance In Swan Lake In The Spring

    Misty Copeland has been breaking ballerina barriers everywhere she goes.

    She became the only African-American soloist in the prestigious American Ballet Theatre. She joined the theatre at the age of 16 and has only progressed from there.

    When asked about her dream roles only a year ago, she said they would likely include Kitri in Don Quixote, Giselle and Odette in Swan Lake.

    Well, in the spring, one of those dreams is coming true for Misty Copeland!

    She will make her American debut in Swan Lake with the Washington Ballet in April, the company announced Wednesday.

    Misty Copeland will dance the leading role of Odette/Odile at the Kennedy Center, with the Washington Ballet’s Brooklyn Mack as her partner and love interest, Prince Siegfried, who also happens to be African-American.

    This is some serious barrier-breaking. The roles of Odette and Seigfried are traditionally danced by white principals, but not anymore!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY0cdXr_1MA

    “I’ve been a fan of Misty’s for years,” Washington Ballet Artistic Director Septime Webre said in an interview Wednesday.

    #bachpartita #TwylaTharp @jamesbwhiteside

    A photo posted by Misty Copeland (@mistyonpointe) on

    “There’s a freshness and newness that she brings to what she’s doing, and with the attention that she’s receiving now, it’s an exciting moment. To give her the opportunity to dance her first Swan Lake in the U.S. this spring, and to pair her with Brooklyn Mack, questions some notions about who should be dancing principal roles in classical ballet.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRzh3Jr7GJ4

    Webre continued, “Having two African Americans dancing together seems to provide a fresh take on this classic, while challenging traditional notions of what a ballerina and principal male dancer should look like in the classical canon.”

    Misty Copeland is also over the moon about her new role.

    “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.”

    What an exciting time for Misty Copeland! What do you think about her historical new role?