Yesterday Misty Copeland made history becoming the first African-American female principle at the American Ballet Theatre.
Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Copeland grew up in San Pedro, California, where she started her dance training at the San Pedro City Ballet aged 13. Despite dire predictions about her chance of success due to her late start and different body type, Copeland defied the prejudices still rife in the ballet world studying at Louridsen Ballet Centre and the San Francisco Ballet School, before she was accepted on to the American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive course with a full scholarship. She then joined the main company in April 2001, and was appointed soloist in August 2007; one of only three African-American in the company’s history.
In recent years, Copeland has become a name outside the world of ballet appearing in commercials, TV shows and even dancing with Prince during his 2010 tour. She published her best-selling memoir Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina last year, and is the focus of the documentary A Ballerina’s Tale, which débuted at the Tribecca Film Festival in April of this year. In the same month she was also named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, featuring alongside Kanye West, Bradley Cooper, US TV Anchor Jorge Ramos and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the cover. Her promotion to principle, however, fulfilled a life-long dream as well as symbolising progress in the campaign to making ballet more widely accessible.
Copeland has without doubt changed the face of ballet, her rise not only signals a step towards diversifying the art but also towards opening up ballet to new audiences. Copeland herself pinpoints the moment when she realise her own significance, as ‘the night I danced The Firebird at the Metropolitan Opera House in June 2012. I had never seen an audience that was 50 per cent African-American. It was over-whelming to know that so many of them were there to support what I stood for.’ She also serves as a much needed role model for any girl trying to pursue a ballet career regardless of not fitting the waif-thin, porcelain skinned image seen as ideal for a ballerina. Despite her new role she will continue to mentor younger members of the American Ballet Theatre and work for the company’s Project Plié which aims to increase ethnic and racial diversity in ballet.
There is still a long way to go though! Of the sixty-five dancers in the English National Ballet for example, only twenty-one are not white. Likewise of the forty-three members of the Northern Ballet only six aren't white. Race is not the only barrier to overcome, however, as Copeland herself highlights many talented dancers are discouraged and overlooked because they don’t fit the body type. Over the last few years we have seen some initiatives to try and change this mind-set, including Wayne Sleep and Monica Loughman’s project Big Ballet, which aired on Channel 4 in February 2014. Yet as Copeland observes how can we expect people to take up dancing or even pay to see it at the theatre ‘if they can’t see themselves reflected on the stage’?
Misty Copeland is taking a leap in the right direction though, making her début this month in the company’s performance of Swan Lake at the Metropolitan Opera, New York dancing the lead with Brooklyn Mack.
An Unlikely Ballerina: Misty Copeland
Yesterday Misty Copeland made history becoming the first African-American female principle at the American Ballet Theatre.
Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Copeland grew up in San Pedro, California, where she started her dance training at the San Pedro City Ballet aged 13. Despite dire predictions about her chance of success due to her late start and different body type, Copeland defied the prejudices still rife in the ballet world studying at Louridsen Ballet Centre and the San Francisco Ballet School, before she was accepted on to the American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive course with a full scholarship. She then joined the main company in April 2001, and was appointed soloist in August 2007; one of only three African-American in the company’s history.
In recent years, Copeland has become a name outside the world of ballet appearing in commercials, TV shows and even dancing with Prince during his 2010 tour. She published her best-selling memoir Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina last year, and is the focus of the documentary A Ballerina’s Tale, which débuted at the Tribecca Film Festival in April of this year. In the same month she was also named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, featuring alongside Kanye West, Bradley Cooper, US TV Anchor Jorge Ramos and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the cover. Her promotion to principle, however, fulfilled a life-long dream as well as symbolising progress in the campaign to making ballet more widely accessible.
Copeland has without doubt changed the face of ballet, her rise not only signals a step towards diversifying the art but also towards opening up ballet to new audiences. Copeland herself pinpoints the moment when she realise her own significance, as ‘the night I danced The Firebird at the Metropolitan Opera House in June 2012. I had never seen an audience that was 50 per cent African-American. It was over-whelming to know that so many of them were there to support what I stood for.’ She also serves as a much needed role model for any girl trying to pursue a ballet career regardless of not fitting the waif-thin, porcelain skinned image seen as ideal for a ballerina. Despite her new role she will continue to mentor younger members of the American Ballet Theatre and work for the company’s Project Plié which aims to increase ethnic and racial diversity in ballet.
There is still a long way to go though! Of the sixty-five dancers in the English National Ballet for example, only twenty-one are not white. Likewise of the forty-three members of the Northern Ballet only six aren't white. Race is not the only barrier to overcome, however, as Copeland herself highlights many talented dancers are discouraged and overlooked because they don’t fit the body type. Over the last few years we have seen some initiatives to try and change this mind-set, including Wayne Sleep and Monica Loughman’s project Big Ballet, which aired on Channel 4 in February 2014. Yet as Copeland observes how can we expect people to take up dancing or even pay to see it at the theatre ‘if they can’t see themselves reflected on the stage’?
Misty Copeland is taking a leap in the right direction though, making her début this month in the company’s performance of Swan Lake at the Metropolitan Opera, New York dancing the lead with Brooklyn Mack.