Time to Dance

Dance is making a big leap. Time magazine not only listed American Ballet Theater Soloist Misty Copeland as one of their "100 most influential people", but also placed her on one of the five covers for this issue. This is the first time since 1994 that a dance figure was featured in this way. According to the New York Times Arts Beat article, "That puts her in rare company. Time officials said that the last time a dance figure made the magazine’s cover was in 1994, when the choreographer Bill T. Jones was featured. Previous dancers who got their own Time covers include Gelsey Kirkland (1978), Mikhail Baryshnikov (1975), Rudolf Nureyev (1965) and Margot Fonteyn (1949)." We learn more about Copeland's struggle and passion with dance in her memoir “Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina,” as well as in the Under Armour viral video campaign "I will what I want." Beyond the extremely competitive nature of the art form, we are inspired by how dance makes the artist feel. Jennifer Ringer, of the New York City Ballet, notes the first time she danced Balanchine's Serenade, she felt “a light taking up residence in my chest.” From the structure of the discipline to the powerful dynamics of the body, dance tells a story that leaves us captivated and inspired to move our own bodies...across a stage, in barre class, or just in our own living room. It's time to dance like no one is watching.