July 2, 2015

On Tuesday, June 30, Misty Copeland became the first African American woman to be named a principal dancer in the 75-year history of the American Ballet Theater (ABT) in New York City. In recent months, Copeland, 32, has quickly become the most famous ballerina in the United States. In April, she made the cover of Time magazine; in May, she was profiled on “60 Minutes.” Copeland has become a social media sensation.

In 2015, Misty Copeland became the first African American woman to be named a principal dancer in the 75-year history of the American Ballet Theater. Credit: © Kevin Mazur, WireImage/Getty Images

To many, Copeland represents the American dream. But she has faced a number of challenges as she pursued that dream. Copeland is an African American in a profession where there are few. Misty Danielle Copeland was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on Sept. 10, 1982, and grew up, poor, in San Pedro, California. She didn’t hear classical music until she was a teenager. Copeland was introduced to ballet at age 13 at a local Boys & Girls Club. Despite starting ballet at such a late age, she was considered a prodigy. She soon began training at the San Pedro Dance Center.  Soon after, Copeland moved in with her ballet teacher, who mentored the young dancer and waived her class fees. Within three months of study, Copeland began dancing on pointe (an advanced level of ballet dancing on the toes). At age 15, Copeland received a scholarship to attend the San Francisco Ballet’s summer intensive program. She then trained at the Lauridsen Ballet Center in Southern California.

Copeland has also faced criticism about her body type. In contrast to the ideal classical ballerina’s ultra-slender, delicate body, Copeland is 5 feet 2 inches (157 centimeters) tall, with a curvy and muscular body. Copeland’s fans, however celebrate her strong image. In 2010, Copeland was featured in a commercial for Under Armour sports apparel. Within a week of its release, the ad had more than 4 million views on YouTube. In the ad, Copeland dances as a voice-over reads a rejection letter detailing why “the candidate” is not a good fit for ballet.

In 2000, Copeland was offered a full scholarship to attend the ABT’s summer intensive program. In 2001, she joined the ABT’s corps de ballet (regular membership). Copeland has performed as a soloist since 2007. But until this week, the role of principal ballerina eluded her. “I had moments of doubting myself, and wanting to quit, because I didn’t know that there would be a future for an African American woman to make it to this level,” Copeland said at a news conference at the Metropolitan Opera House on Tuesday afternoon. “At the same time, it made me so hungry to push through, to carry the next generation. So it’s not me up here … it’s everyone that came before me that got me to this position.”

Copeland wrote about her life in the best-selling memoir, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina (2014, with Charisse Jones). The book is currently being developed into a Hollywood movie.