Misty Copeland Biography

Misty Danielle Copeland is an American ballet dancer associated with the New York based company ‘American Ballet Theatre’. Regarded as an icon in her field, her formal introduction to ballet occurred when she was 13, on the drill team of her middle school. Acting on the recommendation of the team’s coach who recognised her natural ability, she joined dance classes run by Cynthia Bradley. She moved in with Bradley’s family when the training became more demanding. She won her first top prize in the ballet category of the ‘Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards’ in 1998. In the same year, she witnessed a legal battle between her mother and the Bradleys over her custody. In 2000, she received a full scholarship to the ABT’s ‘Summer Intensive’ program and was crowned ABT’s ‘National Coca-Cola Scholar’. In the following year, she was invited to be a member of ABT’s ‘Corps de Ballet’. Scrutinized throughout her career not only for her skin colour and ethnicity but also for her body type, she became the company’s first woman soloist of African American origin in two decades. In 2015, she became the first African American principal dancer in ABT’s 75-year history.