Bravo Misty Copeland, Bravo!

30 Jun, 2015

Misty Copeland, the Missouri-born ballerina who’s become a forceful voice for diversity in ballet and achieved a rare celebrity that far transcends dance, was named principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre on Tuesday – the first African-American woman to reach that status in the company’s 75-year history.

Copeland, 32, held back tears as she spoke about her promotion, which she said was a lifetime dream, but such a difficult one to attain that she never really thought it would happen.

“It hasn’t been overnight,” she said at a hastily arranged news conference – a testament to her unusual fame. “It’s been 14 years of extremely hard work. … I’m just so extremely honored to be an African-American and to be in this position.”

Copeland added that she hoped her ascension to the very top ranks of ballet would inspire other young dancers of color – “all the little girls” – to stick to their own dreams.

“So many young dancers of color stop dancing at an early age because they just don’t think there will be a career path for them,” she said. “I hope that will change.” She spoke of her own doubts when she joined the ABT ballet corps at age 19 and saw no one “who looked like me.”

“I had moments of doubting myself and wanting to quit, because I didn’t know if there would be a future for an African-American woman” at that level,” she said. “At the same time, it made me so hungry.”

The company announced the promotion six days after Copeland made her New York debut in the role of Odette/Odile in “Swan Lake,” one of the most important roles in a ballerina’s repertoire. The emotional performance ended with Copeland being greeted onstage by trailblazing black ballerinas of earlier generations.

Copeland has become increasingly famous over the past several years, achieving a pop culture status that’s extremely rare for a ballet dancer.

Copeland is the first black ballerina and the second black dancer overall to be a principal at ABT. Desmond Richardson, a black male dancer, was a principal with the company in 1977-1978, and returned as a guest artist later. At New York City Ballet, there has never been a black female principal and only two black male principals.

AP

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