Misty Copeland Speaks About Being a Black Ballerina [Video MashUp]

by Romy Macias, Senior Editor | Mar 25, 2015 | Ballet Dancers, Ballet Media, Video Interviews

Acclaimed ballerina Misty Copeland joins Diane [Rehm] to talk about her remarkable career and how she is challenging physical stereotypes that she says keeps ballet stuck in the past. Video courtesy of The Diane Rehm channel on YouTube. “It took me a while to understand that I was alone.” – Misty Copeland “I think that it was the way my mother raised me, it wasn’t something that I was aware that I was going to be viewed by the world as a black woman. She made that very clear to me and my siblings even though we are bi-racial. I never really felt like I was the only black one, not even in my ballet class from a young age. But once I became a professional it actually was brought to my attention by an adult. And that’s when I stepped back and thought: “Wow, this is a little bit strange, to be the only black woman in a company of eighty dancers.” And for a decade I was. I just went through times where I felt extremely alone. I was going through puberty and you join a company when your 17 years old. And you really wanto to feel accepted and you want to connect with people.” Misty Copeland Speaks About Being a Black Ballerina If you prefer to listen to the interview, click here. Or click on the video below for the full interview. In this interview Misty talks about her childhood. “I was born in Kansas City, Missouri and moved to the Los Angeles area in California when I was 2 years old. My mother raised us 6...

She Graduated And Skipped the Corps de Ballet! You’ll Never Guess Who [Video Interview]

by Romy Macias, Senior Editor | May 14, 2014 | Ballet Dancers, Video Interviews

Anna Pavlova’s broke the mold of what it meant to be a ballerina in the early 1900’s. She Graduated And Skipped the Corp de Ballet! In this video I talk about Anna Pavlova’s amazing career and her dancing style. Listen to the entire video for some interesting stories about this endearing ballerina. For more of my videos go to my YouTube channel. She Graduated And Skipped the Corps de Ballet! Since there is no known recording of Anna Pavlova dancing the Mexican dance, I chose to share the video below of the “Jarabe Tapatío,” the dance Pavlova chose to dance in her 1919 tour to Mexico! Source: http://terrar.io/2013/05/pavlova/ Video courtesy of QuetzalVerde. Thanks! She Graduated And Skipped the Corps de Ballet! How about that? Isn’t it amazing how a “frail” ballerina was able to take ballet to audiences all around the world? If I’ve peaked your interest, then click on this link for more on Anna Pavlova and her amazing...

Dance Motion Photographer Surpasses His Campaign Goal for His Latest Project! [Video]

by Romy Macias, Senior Editor | Apr 3, 2014 | Ballet Photography, Video Interviews

I was very excited to have a second opportunity to chat with Jesus Chapa-Malacara. (You can see our first interview here). Photographer Jesus Chapa-Malacara Surpasses His Pledge Amount for Dance Prints! What Chapa-Malacara has accomplished with his lens bends the mind. Although he is modest, and I had to “twist”  his arm to get him to name the “bunch” (in his words) of publications that have featured his work, here’s a partial list. Mashable, Huffington Post, The Daily Mail, Republica (Italy), PetaPixel, Phoblographer. See for yourself.   Watch the short video below to discover what Jesus is up to and how you can help and benefit at the same time! Video source: YouTube channel (Romy Macias). Photographer Jesus Chapa-Malacara Surpasses His Pledge Amount for Dance Prints! To see more of Jesus’ beautiful motion photography, please visit his site: http://fotosjcm.com/ Don’t miss out on supporting his project and owning one of his breathtaking prints. http://fotosjcm.com/store See his campaign video below! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fotosjcm/dance-prints-humans-slicing-through-space *All images used with permission ©Jesus...

Dance Prints: Ghostly, Enchanting and Heavenly by Jesus Chapa-Malacara [Slide Show]

by Romy Macias, Senior Editor | Jan 29, 2014 | Ballet Photography, Video Interviews

[rev_slider Jesus2]     “Poetry in Motion.” – London’s the Daily Mail Online Dance motion photographer Chapa-Malacara and former dancer knows what the “in-between-moves” of classical ballet’s greatest leaps and turns (sautés and pirouettes) feel like, the technical feat and  their temporality. It is these fleeting moves that he captures in his series called “Dance Prints: Humans Slicing Through Space.” This is the second slide show Classical Ballet News has featured for your pleasure (see first slide show here), but also to ask you to click through the images and consider lending your support to Jesus Chapa-Malacara’s Kickstarter campaing and enable him to expand his Dance Prints project. Clicking on any photo will take you to his Kickstarter campaign page, website, or Facebook page. *All  images used with permission of Jesus...

Photographer Jesus Chapa-Malacara’s Breakthrough Images [Slide Show]

by Romy Macias, Senior Editor | Jan 27, 2014 | Ballet Photography, Editor's Choice, Video Interviews

[rev_slider Jesus] “Bewitching, ghostly, entrancing, and heavenly,” describe Jesus Chapa-Malacara’s photography.  – Huffington Post  “Here’s the thing about being a dancer.  Whereas most people think of dance primarily as the cool tricks and poses, dancers spend a lot more time thinking about the movement in between than the actual poses. So I kept thinking, how can I tell that story? “ “Each photo you see is every little piece of what it takes to start and finish a ‘word’ within the ballet language, all the little details dancers spend years perfecting. So over the long term, I hope to create a visual compendium of the ballet lexicon.” – Jesus Chapa-Malacara Chapa-Malacara is a Brooklyn and Boston-based multi-media artist, photographer/director and former pro ballet dancer. A student of art , he studied photography under David Hilliard and Todd Papageorge as an undergraduate at Yale, where he earned a BA in Political Science. “In art, my passion lies in storytelling and exploring ‘the how,’ be it physically, conceptually or politically. I strive for photography that is intentional and thoughtful, that explores technical aspects–light, composition, post-production–as much as it examines the particularities of its subjects. I love what I do and deeply believe in the power of art to inspire and communicate.” Currently, I’m working on the ground-breaking series Dance Prints, including the visual ballet compendium Esprit de Corps. You can check it out on the kickstarter campaign page.” – JCM In addition to pursuing commercial photography,  Jesus is working on a photographic novel, a multi-media satirical pop-art website, and a few series of self-portraits that explore physical perception. Jesus’ work has been featured in solo and...

Dance Prints – Humans Slicing Through Space by Jesus Chapa-Malacara [Video Interview]

by Romy Macias, Senior Editor | Jan 24, 2014 | Ballet Photography, Video Interviews

He’s been featured on Mashable (with 1.9 k shares!), PBS Arts, DanceSpirit, PetaPixel (1.4 k Likes!), The Ballet Bag, The Phoblographer, The Photo Brigade, Mostrarte and Le Journal de Montreal, just to name a few. Dance Prints – Humans Slicing Through Space by Jesus Chapa-Malacara This week I had the pleasure of hanging out with Brookly and Boston-based photographer Jesús Chapa-Malacara. He shared his recent project “Dance Prints – Human Slicing Through Space” which takes the viewer on a visual journey of a dancer’s motion through space. Jesus explained that in order to finance his project and create these amazing images he’s begun a Kickstarter campaign rallying the support of all those who share his vision and love for photography and dance.  Having been a dancer himself, Jesus wanted to explore a new way of looking at dance. The results are short of mind-blowing! Dance Prints – Humans Slicing Through Space by Jesus Chapa-Malacara Here’s our conversation. The final minutes are quite insightful; I’m sure you’ll agree. Enjoy! Video can also be viewed on YouTube channel by Romy Macias. Here’s a sampling of Jesus’ breathtaking images! Jesus not only uses ballet dancers as subjects, but breakdancers and ballroom dancers as well. He hopes to expand to athletes in the near future. Dance Prints – Humans Slicing Through Space by Jesus Chapa-Malacara Here’s Jesus’ Kickstarter video. Video, courtesy of Kickstarter.com. If you find Jesus’ art inspiring please visit his Kickstarter page and consider making a pledge starting at $1. As of the date of this post, there are 21 days remaining for the “Dance Prints” campaign which ends on February 14, 2014 at 11...