Hip-Hop + Ballet = Hiplet

article by Great Big Story

The dancers of the Chicago Multicultural Dance Center plié, pirouette and jeté to their own rhythm in a new form called Hiplet. The dance draws on both the movements of hip-hop and classical ballet technique and is performed on pointe shoes. 

To read more, go to http://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/hip-hop-en-pointe

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• Misty Copeland Breaks Barriers One Pirouette at a Time

Diggin' in the Crates: A Tribe Called Quest

ATCQ Album Cover

It's seemed like only yesterday that I heard Bonita Applebum playing on the radio through the hallways of my high school. But it wasn't just yesterday. All this week, A Tribe Called Quest has been popping up all over the airwaves and nightly talk shows to celebrate its 25th anniversary of their debut album People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.

Out of all the members of the group Q-Tip was my personal favorite. (My sincere apologies Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White.) 

The one in the middle is Q-Tip

I personally never owned the album but now is good time to add People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm to my music collection. And I've got to get Pharell William's rendition of Bonita Applebum.

So far the best interview I heard about the 25th anniversary aired on NPR's All Things Considered. I learned that the album made some feel like it was "an iconoclast's mission statement" from the hip-hop era of the early 1990s. The group, which started out during their teenage years, are all grownup and appears to be ready to bring hip-hop back to life. Well, at least this is what I hope.

Take a listen.

Misty Copeland Breaks Barriers One Pirouette at a Time

Misty Copeland appeared on my radar in September 2014 after I heard her story on National Public Radio. Morning Edition host, Steve Inskeep, had a captivating conversation with the ballerina about her book Firebird and what it’s like to be a Black ballerina.

Related Story: Misty Copeland on Broadening 'Beauty' And Being Black In Ballet

On June 30, 2015, Copeland popped up again on my radar. Turns out that the 32 year-old dancer broke barriers and made history. Copeland was named principal dancer at the American Ballet Theater Company. She is the first Black-American female to hold this position.

As Copeland was pursuing her passion naysayers told her that her body was too bulky for ballet. She was told at the age of 13 that she was too old to continue her goals as a dancer. It makes me wonder what Copeland’s cynics are saying now. I bet they are wondering how this bulky, Black-American woman was promoted to principal dancer in her 30s.

It just goes to show that perseverance will get you exactly where you want to be in life. What are you waiting for?

Take a listen to Copeland’s one-to-one with Steve Inskeep, which initially aired on Sept. 9, 2014.