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Tyde-Courtney Edwards

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

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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

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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

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  1. ^ Bonk, Valerie. "Ballet After Dark uses dance, meditation to heal emotional scars". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "The Turning Point". Baltimore magazine. 2019-03-19. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  3. ^ a b Griffith, Lacee (2017-05-24). "Ballet After Dark gives light to women coping with tragedy". WBAL. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  4. ^ a b "See How This Ballerina Rape Survivor Is Helping Other Victims Through Dance". BET.com. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  5. ^ Kast, Sheilah; Gerr, Melissa. "Reprocess, Rebuild, Reclaim with Ballet After Dark". wypr.org. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  6. ^ "Ballet Helped Me Reconnect with My Body After Being Raped—Now I'm Helping Others Do the Same". Shape. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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.
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