Tyde-Courtney Edwards
Tyde-Courtney Edwards (born 1987)[1] is an American dancer and businesswoman. She founded Ballet After Dark, an organization that offers ballet classes to survivors of trauma and assault.[2]
Life and career[edit]
Edwards was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland.[3] She began ballet lessons at age three. Edwards attended Baltimore School for the Arts for high school, where she majored in dance.[2] After high school she worked several part-time jobs while working as a freelance dancer.
In 2012, Edwards was attacked in a parking structure by a stranger and awakened in the woods, where her attacker beat her up and raped her.[3][2] Edwards' mental health deteriorated as she failed to receive support from her family, then-fiancé, and the police.[4] She spent time in a psychiatric facility and began attending counseling sessions at a center for sexual assault survivors.[2] Edwards returned to taking dance classes and credits them with helping her cope with the trauma.[4][5]
Ballet After Dark[edit]
In May 2015 Edwards founded Ballet After Dark, a "ballet-based fitness program that includes a self-care workshop for sexual and domestic assault survivors."[2][6] The Baltimore-based organization was the subject of a documentary film by the same name, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2019.[7][2] Ballet After Dark was directed by B. Monet and produced and distributed by Queen Latifah's talent company Queen Collective.[8]
References[edit]
- ^ Bonk, Valerie. "Ballet After Dark uses dance, meditation to heal emotional scars". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
- ^ a b c d e f "The Turning Point". Baltimore magazine. 2019-03-19. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
- ^ a b Griffith, Lacee (2017-05-24). "Ballet After Dark gives light to women coping with tragedy". WBAL. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
- ^ a b "See How This Ballerina Rape Survivor Is Helping Other Victims Through Dance". BET.com. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
- ^ Kast, Sheilah; Gerr, Melissa. "Reprocess, Rebuild, Reclaim with Ballet After Dark". wypr.org. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
- ^ "Ballet Helped Me Reconnect with My Body After Being Raped—Now I'm Helping Others Do the Same". Shape. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
- ^ Hayes, Dade (2019-03-11). "Tribeca Film Festival Unveils Shorts Lineup; Feature Slate Includes John DeLorean, Muhammad Ali, Chelsea Manning – Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
- ^ Nichols, Mackenzie (2020-01-30). "Queen Latifah on Diversity in Storytelling: 'I Don't Know What Everybody's So Afraid of'". Variety. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
External links[edit]
- 1987 births
- Living people
- American ballerinas
- African-American female dancers
- Entertainers from Baltimore
- Businesspeople from Baltimore
- African-American women in business
- 21st-century African-American women
- 21st-century African-American people
- 20th-century African-American people
- 20th-century African-American women