Talk:Misty Copeland

GAC comments
I was going to review this article for GAC, but I'm afraid I don't have the time to complete my review. I made some preliminary comments, however, so hopefully it will help before the article is reviewed in full. My major concern is the status of the prose, which is typically below par. A thorough copy-edit from a non-involved editor will help spruce things up.

MOS/Formatting Prose
 * Per The MOS, the birthdate should be written "(born 1982)", not "(1982–)".
 * Thanks.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 15:44, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * The "Biography" is not applicable, I feel, since the rest of the article is technically part of her bio, as well. Would it work better as "Early life"?
 * Good idea.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 15:46, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * In the refs, there is no need to include "The New York Times Company" in referencing The New York Times; it's fairly obvious.
 * When the publisher and the work have separate WP articles, I generally link both.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 15:45, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Also in the refs, there are numerous repeated links for magazines and newspapers. They only need to be linked once.
 * Unlike the main body of the article, we do not assume the reader has read previous refs and make each fully contained by linking each as is appropriate.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 15:47, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * ...is an American ballerina, who is described by many accounts as the first African-American female soloist for the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), which has been described as one of the three great American-style classical ballet companies on the world stage today (along with New York City Ballet and San Francisco Ballet). Long, long sentence.  I'm not sure from the beginning what "described by many accounts" means; accounts differ?  This can be made clearer.  The background information about the ABT is also not needed here; it detracts from who this article is about.
 * I have shortened the sentence. WRT, by many accounts, I have been informed of a dancer who seems to have performed as a soloist once or very briefly with the company.  I have inquiries awaiting response directly from ABT.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 16:12, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * In this role, she has endured cultural pressure and has been described as the "Jackie Robinson of classical ballet". What does "cultural pressure" mean? It's perhaps a little too vague.
 * I am not sure how much detail belongs in the LEAD. I will await formal review.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 16:14, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * her ballet teachers, who were serving as her guardians while she lived with them : shorten to "custodial guardians"?
 * O.K.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 16:15, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * After two summer workshops with the ABT, she became a member of the ABT Studio Company in 2000, a member of the ABT corps de ballet in 2001, and an ABT soloist in 2007. A lot of repetition here with "ABT" this, "ABT" that; any way to condense?
 * Good idea.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 16:18, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I see a few uses of "Misty" where a pronoun or "Copeland" will suffice; notably in the first paragraph of the body.
 * O.K.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 16:24, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * DelaCerna allowed Copeland to go to the club after school until the her workday ended and Cynthia Bradley... "the" or "her"? If "her", whose workday is it?
 * O.K.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 16:26, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Bradley invited Copeland to attend classes at the small local ballet school, San Pedro Dance Center, where Bradley taught but Copeland's mother did not have a car and her oldest sister Erica was working two jobs, so Copeland did not accept the invitation at first. Cut into two sentences, perhaps after "taught"?
 * I cut it into three sentences.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 16:28, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * She soon moved back in with her mother in a motel in Gardena, California.[10] She and her mother soon signed a management contract and a life-story contract and Copeland moved in with Bradley. Repetitive wording ("soon" x 2)... maybe, "Soon after she and her mother moved to a motel in Gardena, California, they signed a management contract..."?
 * O.K.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 16:33, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * The competition was held at the Chandler Pavilion on March 24, 1998, and she says it was the first time she ever battled nervousness: "said", past tense.
 * Thanks.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 16:43, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * The winners were awarded scholarships between $500 and $2500. Repetitive; "the winners received"?
 * I am not sure why it is repetitive, but I changed it because it was passive.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 16:47, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * The contest was among gifted high school students in Southern California... this should be explained when the contest is first introduced. Otherwise, it's very confusing; I thought this was about a second competition!

That's as far as I got. If you have any questions about my comments/suggestions, please let me know via my talk page. Best of luck, María ( habla con migo ) 15:02, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

Ballerina
The article constantly referred to her as a "ballerina." She is actually a danseuse. She wants to become a ballerina. Now, I am not a giant fan of ballet, but even I know that it is the height of childish ignorance to think that a ballerina is just a female ballet dancer. The writing of this article could be better and really needs a going-ver by someone who actually knows something about dance and, particularly, ballet. It is also pretty shy on research. Gingermint (talk) 23:28, 3 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Now that she has been promoted to principal dancer, she is a ballerina. --Willthacheerleader18 (talk) 19:57, 30 June 2015 (UTC)

A thought
In the lead section (although not necessarily the body), I'd suggest "Copeland became the first Black woman" rather than "Copeland became the first African American woman". Professional dancers tend to move between countries quite a lot, and in this context "first African American" could give the impression—partcularly to non-US readers to whom the term "African American" isn't as familiar—that there had been other black women to hold the position and she was just the first to be a US citizen. &#8209; Iridescent 20:35, 27 January 2016 (UTC)
 * , right now lets try to keep commentary centralized at Featured article candidates/Misty Copeland/archive1 where the attention is now.--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 00:23, 28 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Sure, can do—I posted here as it's not really a FAC issue, and I know from experience that FACs with a lot of discussion sometimes put other people off participating. &#8209; Iridescent 00:27, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

This is a problematic thought on many points. The first is that Misty has already traveled the world as part of ABT, an American company, and did not change her racial heritage or her national citizenship. If either of those change in the future, than maybe this point mught hold water, but currently it does not. Secondly, if we change this for Misty for this reason, then we have to go around not just Wiki, but a great many other publications and cultural papers and books to make sure no other African American's ethnicity is misunderstood by non-Americans. Why stop at Misty? However, we could hand people a digital copy of her DNA and this could still be misunderstood, due to language barriers, if nothing else. The solution offered by Iridescent could in no way solve the problem she suggests. Third, the most polite term really goes back to asking the person what they choose to honor for their lives. On Misty's on website she chooses African American. "Rising star Misty Copeland makes history as the first African American Female Principal Dancer with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre." Mistycopeland.com 2601:147:C002:D83A:9119:D26F:59A4:1D1D (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 11:26, 20 February 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20110204220153/http://www.essence.com:80/entertainment/black_history_month/bhm_boundary-breaking_black_women_in_ent.php to http://www.essence.com/entertainment/black_history_month/bhm_boundary-breaking_black_women_in_ent.php#misty_copeland

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New book
Can anyone find a reliable source for this new book to be released on September 27.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 18:10, 19 September 2016 (UTC)


 * The publisher's page is sufficient evidence that it exists, but I don't see any reviews yet. They've got to be coming soon. -- Ssilvers (talk) 18:33, 19 September 2016 (UTC)

One she wrote: https://www.amazon.com/Life-Motion-Ballerina-Misty-Copeland/dp/1476737983 Coauthored: https://www.amazon.com/Firebird-Misty-Copeland/dp/0399166157 photography book: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/misty-copeland-photo-book_us_57e2a14ae4b0e28b2b5161b4 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:147:C002:D83A:9119:D26F:59A4:1D1D (talk) 11:32, 20 February 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified (February 2018)
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Reputation section needed
The main omission in this article, IMO, is a "Reputation" section that describes the reception of Copeland by reputable ballet critics at various stages of her career. If anyone feels able to provide this, then I think the article could be updated and brought to FAC. -- Ssilvers (talk) 19:14, 30 April 2018 (UTC)
 * , I was about to ping you about this page being kept up to date. I know you have eyes on this page, but was wondering if you have time to update the last two years of her career. I wonder why you think it is any more ready for FAC than it was in the 2016 nom otherwise as well.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 01:31, 1 May 2018 (UTC)
 * The main problem I had in 2016 (not the only one, but by far the biggest one) was that there was no reputation section. If there were a good reputation section, I think we could push it towards FAC. Without a reputation section, frankly, I don't think it should be GA. -- Ssilvers (talk) 02:59, 1 May 2018 (UTC)

Websites featured on
https://mistycopeland.com https://www.abt.org/people/misty-copeland/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ8ErQgDyWNJJqun803FkQw https://www.biography.com/people/misty-copeland Pretty.Pointe (talk) 02:37, 22 March 2019 (UTC)

What's wrong? Why isn't the "Infobox" displaying like it should?
I see that the "Infobox" on this isn't being displayed like it should. What's wrong? All is see is this: "Template:Infobox dancer= Misty Copeland." Why isn't it displaying properly like it should? Could it be fixed by anyone who knows how to fix it? - Frschoonover, Feb. 24, 2020


 * Please sign your Talk page contributions by adding four tildes, which will automatically add your name and the date stamp. Also, it's best to keep your talk page comments together in one paragraph to make the Talk page easier to read.  To answer your questions, the problem was caused by some silly vandalism. I've reverted the changes. -- Ssilvers (talk) 04:00, 25 February 2020 (UTC)
 * ✅ Eruditess (talk) 05:34, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

misti is the best — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2603:6011:7840:F598:4847:5925:1022:56B (talk) 18:58, 21 February 2021 (UTC)

College
What college(s) did Miata Copeland go to. 2600:1700:2730:35C0:D531:F742:DE10:9E85 (talk) 22:23, 30 January 2023 (UTC)


 * As the article notes, Misty Copeland performed with ABT immediately after High School. She did not attend college.  She holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Hartford.  -- Ssilvers (talk) 03:59, 31 January 2023 (UTC)

Improvents
Who is the author for this source? When was the last time this source was updated? All of this information needs to be listed. Im going to call your manager because this is unexceptable to post online for a bunch of innocent people to read, when are just read false information. 184.185.105.110 (talk) 14:30, 30 May 2023 (UTC)
 * None of your questions are answerable (which source?) and none of your criticism is actionable. If you point out any specific errors or deficiencies in the article, editors can take a look. Schazjmd   (talk)  19:10, 30 May 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Research, Writing, and the Production of Knowledge
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