51 pages • 1 hour read
Misty CopelandLife in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | YA | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Cultural Context: A Quick History of Ballet
Ballet, the discipline of dance Misty Copeland specializes in, originated in Italy in the 15th or 16th century. It was adopted by the French royal court, where it gained a more formalized style and language. Ballet soon became an element of opera; ballet dances appeared in operas alongside vocal performances. In the 1770s, ballet branched out to become a fully realized art form separate from opera (Kant, Marion, and Ivor Guest. “Ballet.” Britannica, 9 Mar. 2024).
By the mid-1800s, ballet was a highly respected and romanticized art form. Classical composers wrote music specifically for ballet, often with specific dancers in mind for certain parts. Both ballet dancers and their choreographers could become celebrities. In the late 1800s, ballet grew in popularity in Russia thanks in part to composers like Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who wrote Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, two of the most popular and famous ballets in the world. Russian dancers, many of them from the world-famous Bolshoi Ballet company, dominated the ballet world for much of the 20th century (Kant). Many of the most famous dancers of the 20th century were Soviet dancers, including Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov, both of whom famously defected from the Soviet Union.
Since the 1950s, two divergent styles of ballet have evolved: traditional and contemporary. Traditional ballet adheres to strict ideas of music and style associated with ballets written and choreographed before the turn of the 20th century. Contemporary ballet, beginning in the mid-20th century with choreographers like George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, leans toward the avant-garde, relying on abstraction, experimentation, and modern music. Some ballet companies specialize in one kind or the other. The New York City Ballet, founded by a Balanchine, focuses primarily on contemporary ballet (Walker, Kathrine Sorley. “George Balanchine.” Britannica, 14 Feb. 2024). The American Ballet Theatre, where Misty Copland is a principal dancer, performs a mix of both traditional and contemporary productions.
Literary Context: Memoir and Kunstlerroman
Though memoir and autobiography are sometimes used interchangeably to refer to nonfiction about a person writing about their own life, there are differences between the two. Usually, an autobiography covers a person’s entire life from birth to death in chronological order and focuses on factual information. On the other hand, a memoir generally focuses on one specific period or event in a person’s life, gives more weight to that person’s inner feelings, and may be organized thematically rather than chronologically. Many works straddle the line between memoir and autobiography. Though Life in Motion begins early in Misty’s life, from around the age of two, it is more closely aligned with memoir than autobiography, as it focuses primarily on her career as a ballet dancer.
Additionally, Life in Motion is part of a tradition of memoirs specific to creative types that chronicles an artist’s steppingstones to achievement and success. It is therefore also closely related to the kunstlerroman, a sub-genre of the bildungsroman or coming-of-age story that focuses on the development of an artist. Though kunstlerroman is usually fiction, not biography, it chronicles the childhood, education, and development of artists and often includes themes like the path to maturity of artistic vision. Misty’s memoir explores a similar trajectory of development and themes, following her evolution as a dancer. Life in Motion also follows a common story trope, the classic “rags-to-riches” narrative, in which a person born into poverty and difficult family circumstances works hard and, through a mix of perseverance and luck, reaches the heights of success. This is a common and highly popular narrative in memoirs and autobiographies.
