''A Ballerina's Tale'' is a 2015 documentary film revolving around the career of

Misty Copeland Misty Danielle Copeland (born September 10, 1982) is an American ballet dancer for American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United States. On June 30, 2015, Copeland became the first African Ameri ...

, who serves as the narrator of the film as well as its subject. The film premiered on April 19, 2015 at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

. It was released through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

on October 13, 2015, prior to opening in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

on October 14, 2015, by

Sundance Selects IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its Sun ...

. A version of it, which is available on the PBS website, was also aired by

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

stations beginning in February 2016. The film received mostly positive reviews.

Synopsis

The film follows the daily life of Copeland with emphasis on her role as one of the first African-American female soloists to present what Mekado Murphy of ''

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'' describes as the process of the dancer. The film begins with archival footage of a young Copeland at a small ballet studio and focuses on her cultural impact and professional ascension, despite injuries and other challenges, without delving into her personal history.

Development

On September 20, 2013,

Nelson George Nelson George (born September 1, 1957) is an American author, columnist, music and culture critic, journalist, and filmmaker. He has been nominated twice for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Biography George attended St. John's Universit ...

announced a $40,000

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign to fund production of a documentary film about the life of

. The campaign raised $54,251 USD with 657 backers.

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contributed a "substantial sum" to the campaign. The film is one of several forms of media publicity surrounding Copeland who has become a trailblazing ballerina with the

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual ei ...

Release

The film premiered at the

on April 19, 2015, accompanied by a ballet performance. Copeland, who narrates the film, spoke following its premiere.

acquired the US distribution rights to the film. The film was released through

on October 13, 2015, and the following day began a

in US cinemas. A 55-minute version of it aired beginning on February 8, 2016 as part of

' ''

Independent Lens ''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Ho ...

'' series.

Critical response

''A Ballerina's Tale'' received mostly positive reviews. It holds a 73% ''Fresh'' rating on the website

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, based on 11 reviews with an average rating of 7.8/10. It holds a 57 score on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

based on 4 reviews. Maya Chung for NBCnews.com wrote: "''A Ballerina's Tale'' is one film that is making that impact. The documentary gives an in-depth picture of Copeland's struggles with being black in a predominantly white Ballet world and it chronicles her experience recovering from a leg fracture - one that could've stopped her dream of becoming a principal dancer." Amy Brady from ''The Village Voice'' commented: "In ''A Ballerina's Tale'', director Nelson George paints a moving portrait of Copeland that underscores her triumphs over bodily and historical limitations. ... The film is structured around mid-career highlights – Copeland's solo performance in ''The Firebird'' at the Metropolitan Opera House, her career-defining role as Odette/Odile in ''Swan Lake'' – but it reminds us that her rise to stardom was marked by self-doubt and a need for mentorship." The film is not considered "eye-opening" according to

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's Regina Mogilevskaya, but the presentation of Copeland as a performer is what makes the film memorable.

Notes

External links

official website

official trailer

Tribecca Film Festival official listing

official listing
at

IFC Films IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its S ...

55-minute version of ''A Ballerina's Tale''

(2016) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballerina's Tale 2015 films 2015 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about ballet 2010s English-language films 2010s American films