When Misty Copeland took her final bow with the American Ballet Theatre this October, the applause and standing ovation wasn’t just for the end of the performance, it was for the woman who redefined what a ballerina could look like. Copeland’s retirement is so much more than the end of an outstanding career, it’s a celebration about who belongs onstage and what defines a dancer’s beauty and belonging.
A Farewell Full of meaning
Copeland’s final performance at Lincoln Center in New York City was both incredible and indescribably symbolic. The adoring audience rose to their feet to honor not just a stunning performance packed with technique and emotion, but to honor Copeland’s undeniable impact on ballet as a whole. After dancing professionally with the American Ballet Theatre since 2001, Copeland announced that she would be redirecting her career from the stage to her foundation Be Bold, dedicated to arts access for young dancers of color.
Ballet’s problem with perfection
It’s no secret that the art of ballet requires perfectionism and intense dedication to being the very best you can be. And to understand Copeland’s impact, it’s vital to understand what the “perfect ballerina” once was and, unfortunately for some, still is. Emerging from the royal courts of 17th century France and Russia, the idealized ballerina was thin, pale, and light. By the 20th century, as ballets widened across the globe, these standards evolved into something dangerous, the glorification of the “weightless” look.
Within the pre-professional, and professional ballet world, extreme thinness became synonymous with discipline. A dangerous ideal that is not only unrealistic, but detrimental to the health of dancers across the globe. Dancers were told that their weight was measured in not only pirouettes but in pounds. Restrictive eating, extreme exercise, and obsessive body dysmorphia became normalized and even praised. Ballet’s strive for aesthetics began to curate a culture of quiet suffering. The body of a ballerina became her battleground.
But then came Misty Copeland.
Redefining The “Ballet Body”
Copland was just 18 years old when she joined The American Ballet Theater in the Corps de Ballet. She didn’t look like the dancers who came before her, and surrounded her, and that was her strength. Her darker complexion, African American heritage, and athletic build, was both a challenge and unique force to an art form still so obsessed with a fragile look. Numerous times, Copeland was told she was “too curvy,” or “distracted from the look of the corps.” But Copeland never changed herself to fit the mold, she made her own.
Making history in 2015, Copeland became the first Black female principal dancer in the American Ballet Theatre. Her resilience, and resistance to what society wanted a ballerina to look like, redefined these toxic narratives. Her performances celebrated Black dancers and uplifted strength as beauty. Starvation was no longer equivalent to stamina, and uniformity was no longer the lack of individuality.
A legacy beyond Her Last bow
Copeland’s presence gained worldwide popularity and opened doors for dancers who may otherwise have never seen themselves represented on a stage. She became the role model that her younger self never had. Every rehearsal and performance was a reminder to young dancers of color that they belong in ballet, and that if they dream it, they too can do it.
For longtime dancers, who saw themselves in Copeland, like myself, her final bow is bittersweet. But her retirement isn’t ending her impact on dance, her influence now reaches far beyond the stage through her books (Life in Motion, Ballerina Body, etc.). Her books don’t just tell her story on paper, they work to reshape how dancers feel and treat their bodies, identities, and self esteem.
In Copeland’s Ballerina Body, especially, she directly challenges the damaging idolized “ballet body” that has defined dancers for centuries. She celebrates nourishment, uniqueness, strength, and self love as vital parts of artistry and discipline. Through her published works, she gives dancers a guide to learning to love their bodies, and use them to the best of their ability, and not shrink to outdated expectations.
Copeland’s legacy isn’t confined to a single performance, her legacy lives within past and present dancers across the world who now experience ballet as a place where their differences can be celebrated. It lives in every little girl who picks up her books and sees that a ballet body is not a shape or shade, it’s a body that moves with purpose and passion. As Copeland said herself, “you can start late, look different, be uncertain, and still succeed.” Misty Copeland did more than dance beautifully, she broke down barriers, and that just might be her best performance of all.