via Misty Copeland’s Facebook page

She may just be 30 years old, but ballet dancer Misty Copeland has a lot to write about. And that she will. Copeland just inked a two-book deal. She is working on a memoir for Simon & Schuster’s Touchstone imprint and picture book for G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, part of Penguin Group (USA), reports AP (via Black America Web). Both books are scheduled for 2014. This follows her recently released 2013 calendar.

Copeland is third African-American female soloist for the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the countries leading ballet companies. Early on, people took note of her exceptional ballet skills—even though she didn’t start her training until age 13. She made the news at age 15 when there was a custody battle between her mother and her ballet teachers, who were acting as her custodial guardians. In 1998, Copeland sought legal emancipation. Eventually everything was settled out of court and Copeland moved home to begin studying with a new teacher.

By 22, she joined the ABT’s Studio Company, and was a member of the corps de ballet in 2001. In 2007 she became a soloist.

Copeland has been captializing on her fame in the world of dance, working hard to build her own brand. In addition to the calendar and upcoming books, she has several endorsement deals, including one with Payless Shoe Source and Blackberry.

Everyone has a playlist that gets them through the long workday. Well, that is, if you’re lucky enough to have a job where you can listen to whatever you want, when you want, by your lonesome (sorry folks in customer service who have to stay attentive). We all know that the slower the song, the longer it feels the day is passing by, but the more crunk it is, the better we feel. And hey, if the song applies to our feelings or life at the moment, then that’s awesome too. Here are just a few songs that we think you should add to your playlist. Feel free to include some of your favorite recommendations way down below…

Workin’ Day and Night/Michael Jackson

In all honesty, the whole Off the Wall album should be in heavy rotation on your playlist, but if I had to pick one that probably fits your workday mood, it’s clearly “Workin’ Day and Night.” You might not be working crazy hours (sun up to midnight) for an ungrateful spouse, but I’m sure you can still relate. Plus, the production on this track is bananas enough to get and keep your feet a-tappin’!

Party Up/DMX

Okay, so I might be the only one who thinks this, but I find it very necessary to always have at least one DMX track on hand to spaz out to. What? Like I said, the more crunk the track, the better. And nobody is more crunk than DMX. For me, it’s usually “What’s My Name,” but I think everyone knows and can appreciate “Party Up.” Also known as, “Ya’ll gon’ make me lose my mind, up in here, up in here!” That’s probably what you will be saying around 3 p.m., so why not have a theme song?

Night to Remember/Shalamar

Are you kidding me? Everybody loves this jam! It’s the perfect song for those last few hours of work when you know you’re anticipating a date or quality time with your favorite guy. This song requires just a little shimmy at your desk, and I’m sure when you head out to meet up with ‘ol boy, you’ll be humming this joint. It’s almost like Lay’s potato chips, when you listen to “Night to Remember,”  you can’t listen to it just once.

Keep Ya Head Up/2Pac

If you need to slow it down just a little in the early morning or after lunch, hows about a little bit of positivity in between all the booty popping dance songs? Pac was pretty good for that, and that’s why everyone does a hard head nod to the beat of “Keep Ya Head Up” when it comes on. It’s smooth, but not too slow to put you in itis mode (ready to fall asleep). Plus, Pac is great eye candy to keep you in good spirits.

Soon As I Get Home/Babyface

You’ve got to have at least one smooth slow jam to throw into your mix. Babyface’s “Soon As I Get Home” is perfect for that. It’s one of those, put one finger in the air and snap type of jams, and the lyrics are pretty awesome too: “I give good love, I’ll buy your clothes, I’ll cook your dinner too, soon as I get home from work.” Now that’s a man I think we can all say we would love to have waiting on us after work! THE jam.

Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing/Stevie Wonder

I bet you thought if I was going to pick a Stevie jam it would have been “Living For the City.” Too easy. Instead, how about a fun song that sends good vibes and reminds you how much you need to take a vacation? Any Stevie song will do, but this one always makes me want to get up from my chair and start salsa dancing. Or at least a bootleg version of the salsa. Okay, maybe just a two-step…

If I Ruled the World (imagine that)/ Nas feat. Lauryn Hill

I know what you’re thinking: If I ruled the world, my a** wouldn’t be working. I’m sure that’s true, but until then, a sista is just going to have to dream. And this is one of those songs you can both dream and rock to. You’ve got to love Nas and Lauryn in their prime!

These are clearly just a few of many songs that are great to jam to while working, so we would love to hear some of your picks! Proceed below…

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“I think there’s a difference between being self-employed and business owners. A lot of entrepreneurs are self-employed,” said Consuela Y. Buckley, owner of creative staffing firm Sway Enterprises. “If you have the mindset to say, ‘I’m going to build a business and figure out what I can do to create revenue without working around the clock all of the time’, you’ll have the best of both worlds.”

A professional dancer and choreographer, Buckley figured out how to incorporate her passion of dance into a business model thirteen years ago. Today Sway Enterprises is the umbrella company of enrichment visual arts, etiquette and dance programs that operate within several Dallas school districts. The company also produces instructional dance DVDs, dancewear and hosts a business coaching institute for performing artists.

Being a Business Owner

In 1999 while a student at Texas Christian University, Buckley began teaching dance classes in her free time. Following up on an open call for dance instructors, Buckley jumped at the opportunity to gain practical experience.

“When Sway Enterprises was founded I didn’t know what it was. I just knew I wanted to dance and work with children. I was a sophomore in college and some opportunities came up where a few folks were looking for dance instructors in their school district,” Buckley said.

“More opportunities came and I wasn’t able to fulfill all of them at the time, so I asked a girlfriend of mine to teach some of the classes and I’d train and pay her.
We did that for a few years and started to grow. I realized ‘Hey this is actually a business that I can live off of and run remotely.’”

After graduating, Buckley moved to New York to pursue other dance avenues leaving newly hired instructors to run classes and other business at Sway Enterprises. While training with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, Footprint Dance Company, participating in television and off-Broadway shows, Buckley operated her business from afar.

Okay, so we don’t really need them to make a comeback, but the people on this list made some of our favorite jams over the years. Some were wedding worthy jams, dance club-a-licious, and others were so ’90s we love them just because. Your definition of one-hit wonder might be different, but if we can only think of one jam that reached the top of the charts or got attention, than those artists were put on this list. Either way though, it’s all love…

Source: instrumentalmp3.info

Nicole Wray- “Make it Hot”

“I got what you want, I got what you neeeeed!” When Nicole Wray dropped that Timbaland produced-Missy laced track on us in ’98, as Missy said, she was making us all want to bob our heads. She was a decent alternative in the camp to our girl Aaliyah at the time, whose voice Wray’s was a polar opposite of (but the two women were friends–check Aaliyah in the video), but for some reason, after “Make It Hot” went gold, Wray’s career started to slow down big time. She’s done some features, but “Make it Hot” was the last time we’ve successfully heard her shine on her own.

Photo courtesy of cbenzmusicloverslounge.blogspot.com

I think I got so used to Cassie being a fab model and Diddy’s arm candy that I forgot that she originally came on the scene as a singer–or something like it. I know ya’ll remember “Me & U“! After much talk about her new music, appearances on 106 & Park and a video teaser, Cassie finally debuted the video for her track, “King of Hearts” today in honor of Valentine’s Day. This is her first real single since 2008. As you were probably expecting, the video is 90 percent about her giving good face, eight percent about her showing off some here and there dancing skills in an Aaliyah-esque outfit, and two percent about showcasing her singing skills. Cassie prances around topless and in a barely there dominatrix outfit (that’s more of Rihanna’s steeze Cass…) and silk shirt, and STILL has both sides of her head shaved. Why that fashion trend hasn’t been put into the ground yet, I’m still baffled and can’t understand…

In the end, this is a very David Guetta-esque dance party track, which you shouldn’t be surprised by since that’s all these pop and R&B kids are giving us nowadays. Not bad, but I doubt it will end up on my iPod. What about you? Check out the video and track below…

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What do you think about her list? What’s your favorite song of 2011?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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(Amsterdam News) — Nearly one month ago at the Studio Museum in Harlem, Misty Copeland, the first African-American soloist in the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), shared an evening in conversation with Raven Wilkinson, the first African-American dancer hired as a permanent member of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1954. The conversation was moderated by writer and performer Brenda Dixon-Gottschild.  This meeting, Copeland notes, was an opportunity that she will cherish. She confesses, “I’m so happy to have Ms. Wilkinson as part of my life.” This truth about being the “first African-American soloist with the American Ballet Theatre” sits just fine with Copeland because she is proud to carry this charge. “I’m proud to represent Black ballet dancers; it motivates me, it pushes me to give more to young dancers who look up to.”

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One of the great things about watching a show live, other than sweating like a pig while standing shoulder to shoulder in a  room of total strangers, is the opportunity to see one of your favorite artists or performers go all out, no-do overs, putting some extra stank on every song and dance as if they were performing only for you. Yet we know not every live performance is like that. But some artists can be counted on to kill it, despite technical difficulties or costumes that can’t possibly be comfortable, all to put on shows you’re sure to be talking about for years to come. Here’s a few to stalk Ticketmaster for when they come to your town–if you’re so lucky.

(The Grio) — When Amiya Alexander’s friends couldn’t afford dance lessons, the then-9-year-old dancer decided to start her own studio. Now 12-years-old, this entrepreneur brings dance classes to children in underserved Detroit communities with a bright pink school bus that she’s not yet old enough to drive.  Amiya Alexander is making history … tending to the budding dancers of Detroit. Before her bright pink mobile studio, dance classes were a dream for most of Alexander’s classmates. Their low-income community lacked sufficient practice space, and parents lacked the time to travel to studios. The cost of dance training, $25 per class, made the activity all the more unlikely for Alexander’s peers. Drawing up a blueprint in crayon, the youngster became determined to teach reasonably priced classes — $11.50 each — in her own neighborhood’s parking lots.

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We asked a few New Yorkers a very important question: “If you could live in any decade, which one would it be and why?” One decade was particularly popular. What’s your pick?