Misty Copeland
Misty Copeland is an American ballet dancer for the company American Ballet Theater (ABT) which is one of the top three leading classical ballet companies in the United States. Copeland is also the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in ABT’s 75 year history. Copeland began dancing ballet at the age of 13, but quickly proved herself to be a prodigy. She quickly became an award winning dancer - winning the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Award as the best dancer in Southern California at age 15. Copeland joined ABT in 2000 at 18 years old, becoming a corps de ballet dancer in 2001, and then a soloist in 2007. Copeland is hailed as one of the top 100 Most Influential People by Time magazine and has ventured into public speaking. She has published 2 autobiographical books: Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina (2014), and Firebird (2014).
I find Misty Copeland inspirational in that she was able to break the glass ceiling as an female African American ballet dancer, and challenge the preconceived notion that a ballet dancer is fair skinned. For a long time, representation of diversity in ballet was extremely poor; seeing each forefront ballet dancer share the same light skin tone was almost always guaranteed. Having Copeland break that barrier in that company and become a forefront dancer even when the odds were against her was more that enough to spark some change in the ballet world. Having been a ballet dancer for most of my life, it’s really inspiring to see a dancer who defied all odds and persevered to become one of the best.
This is Copeland’s official website. Here you can view her story of rising to fame as a ballet dancer as well as view videos, articles, media platforms, and images regarding Copeland and her profession.
This website is ABT’s page dedicated to Copeland and her experiences with their company. Here you can read her biography, view her milestones and repertoires, etc.
This website gives a detailed official background of Misty Copeland and her ballet career. You can continue to scroll to see information about the company she dances for.
