Misty Copeland | Biography, Dancing, Books, & Facts (2024)

Misty Copeland (born September 10, 1982, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.) is an American ballet dancer who, in 2015, became the first African American female principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT).

Misty Copeland and her siblings grew up with a single mother whose several failed marriages resulted in financial instability. When young, Copeland moved with her family from Kansas City to San Pedro, California. Her first formal encounter with dance was on the drill team of her middle school. The team’s coach noticed her talent and recommended that she attend ballet classes taught by Cynthia Bradley at the local Boys & Girls Club. Copeland’s natural ability was quickly recognized by Bradley, and, though age 13 was a late start for a serious dance career, Copeland began taking classes with Bradley at the San Pedro Ballet School. When her training became more intensive, Copeland moved in with Bradley and her family in order to be closer to the studio. In 1998, at age 15, she won first prize in the ballet category of the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards. That summer she was accepted with a full scholarship into the intensive summer program at the San Francisco Ballet.

That same year a custody battle ensued between the Bradleys and Copeland’s mother, who, at that time, was living with her children in a motel. Copeland moved back in with her family and began attending San Pedro High School. She continued studying ballet at Lauridsen Ballet Centre in Torrance, California. In 2000 Copeland won another full scholarship, this time to the ABT’s intensive summer program. That year she was also named the ABT’s National Coca-Cola Scholar. At the end of the summer, she was invited to join the ABT studio company, a selective program for young dancers still in training. Soon after, in 2001, she became a member of the ABT’s corps de ballet, the only African American woman in a group of 80 dancers. Though she was challenged by her difference, not only in skin colour but also in body type, always more full-figured than her peers (and regularly reminded), she nevertheless climbed the ranks by virtue of her exceptional skill. In 2007 she became the company’s first African American female soloist in two decades (Anne Benna Sims and Nora Kimball had preceded her). Notable performances included the title role in The Firebird (2012), Gulnare in Le Corsaire (2013), Swanilda in Coppélia (2014), and the dual lead role, Odette/Odile, in Swan Lake (2014).

Copeland’s inspiring story made her a role model and a pop icon. In 2009 Copeland appeared in a music video for the song “Crimson and Clover” by Prince. She also performed live with him on his tour the following year. Copeland became a strong advocate for diversifying the field of ballet and creating access for dancers of varying racial and economic backgrounds. She served on the advisory committee for the ABT’s Project Plié, a program (started in 2013) offering training and mentorship to dance teachers in racially diverse communities around the country as well as in Boys & Girls Clubs. Copeland published the memoir Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina (2014) and had endorsem*nts with companies such as Coach (leather accessories) and Under Armour (athletic wear). In June 2015 the ABT chose Copeland as its first African American female principal dancer in the company’s 75-year history. In August of that year, she had her Broadway debut in the role of Ivy Smith in Leonard Bernstein’s musical On the Town.

In 2018 Copeland made her feature film debut, fittingly playing the ballerina princess in The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, an adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s 19th-century ballet.

In addition to her memoir, Copeland also wrote Ballerina Body: Dancing and Eating Your Way to a Leaner, Stronger, and More Graceful You (2017) and Black Ballerinas: My Journey to Our Legacy (2021) as well as the children’s books Firebird (2014) and Bunheads (2020).