Despite her many accomplishments, there is a great chance you are not familiar with the name, Misty Copeland. As the first female African American to reach the rank of principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater, Misty Copeland is an inspiration to dancers and non-dancers alike. As a child from a very impoverished family in California, ballet was not something that Copeland was exposed to as a child, in fact, Misty Copeland only took her first ballet classes at the age of 13 through the Boys and Girls Club. These classes opened up a new world for young Copeland who, having always been a shy child, finally found a way that she could easily express herself. It turned out that Ms. Copeland had a considerable amount of talent and was dancing en pointe within three months of beginning ballet, and performing professionally within a year of her first class. She then went on to study at the San Francisco Ballet School and attend the American Ballet Theater’s summer intensive on scholarship.
In 2001, at the age of 19, Ms. Copeland became a part of the American Ballet Theater corps de ballet. This new step in her career coincided with the loss of her “ballet body”, never tall, Misty Copeland lost the rail thin look that is so coveted within the ballet world. Feeling both the professional pressure to “lengthen her lines” as well as personal discomfort at feeling separate from her peers due to her race and body type, Misty lost confidence in her dancing and developed binge-eating disorder. Fortunately for both Ms. Copeland and the rest of the dance world, with the support of both her then-boyfriend as well as friends outside of the company, she made the decision to accept her body, and danced with more confidence and fire than ever before. With the help of newfound body confidence, as well as a new mentor, she skyrocketed to become the first female African American soloist in twenty years. As a soloist, Misty Copeland performed one of her most influential roles as the title role in “The Firebird,” choreographed by Alexi Ratmansky. During her performances in this role, Misty suffered severe stress fractures in her left shin, an injury that had nearly broken the bone through and through. Many people claimed that this was would be the end of her career, and that she would not be able to come back at the same level as she had left. She proved them wrong, and returned to ABT to perform many roles. In June of 2015, Misty Copeland was promoted to the rank of Principal.
Misty Copeland has received a large amount of media coverage throughout the past few years for various enterprises, including her memoir, A Life in Motion, a partnership with Matel to produce a Misty Barbie, the “I Will What I Want” Under Armour Campaignand, most recently, the release of her documentary, “A Ballerina’s Tale”. “A Ballerina’s Tale”, currently available on Netflix and is particularly important to both the ballet world as well as to a larger general audience. However, this documentary is not simply the story of Copeland’s life. She states, “I wanted this to be me giving ballet a platform to be seen by the broader world as well as educating people on all African-American women that have come before me and how difficult it really is over generations and generations to get to this level in classical ballet as a black woman. To me, that was the most important story that I thought should be told”. Finally, Misty Copeland has given a great deal of her time to charitable organizations in an attempt to help underprivileged children as well as voicing her opinions on how the art of ballet can be diversified and changed for the better. Misty Copeland is a wonderful and inspirational role model, not just for dancers, but for everyone; proving that it is possible to rise above your circumstances and break through the barriers placed in front of you.
Sources: http://www.dailynews.com/arts-and-entertainment/20151022/a-ballerinas-tale-documents-misty-copelands-return-from-injury, http://mistycopeland.com/about/ , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misty_Copeland#Principal_dancer