Misty Danielle Copeland was born on September 10,1982 and is an American ballet dancer for American Ballet Theatre, one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United States.
91 Facts About Misty Copeland
2.
On June 30,2015, Copeland became the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in ABT's 75-year history.
3.
Misty Copeland was considered a prodigy who rose to stardom despite not starting ballet until the age of 13.
4.
Meanwhile, Misty Copeland, who was already an award-winning dancer, was fielding professional offers.
5.
The legal issues involved filings for emancipation by Misty Copeland and restraining orders by her mother.
6.
In 1997, Misty Copeland won the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Award as the best dancer in Southern California.
7.
Misty Copeland has written two autobiographical books and narrated a documentary about her career challenges, A Ballerina's Tale.
8.
Misty Copeland performed on Broadway in On the Town, toured as a featured dancer for Prince and appeared on the reality television shows A Day in the Life and So You Think You Can Dance.
9.
Misty Copeland has endorsed products and companies such as T-Mobile, Coach, Inc.
10.
Misty Copeland was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but raised in the San Pedro community of Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Sylvia DelaCerna and Doug Misty Copeland.
11.
Misty Copeland's father is of German and African American descent, while her mother is of Italian and African American ancestry and was adopted by African American parents.
12.
Misty Copeland is the youngest of four children from her mother's second marriage and has two younger half-siblings, one each from her mother's third and fourth marriages.
13.
Misty Copeland did not see her father between the ages of two and twenty-two.
14.
Misty Copeland is a trained medical assistant, but worked mostly in sales.
15.
Between the ages of three and seven, Misty Copeland lived in Bellflower, California, with her mother and her mother's third husband, Harold Brown, a Santa Fe Railroad sales executive.
16.
The family moved to San Pedro, where Sylvia eventually married her fourth husband, radiologist Robert DelaCerna and where Misty Copeland attended Point Fermin Elementary School.
17.
When she was seven, Misty Copeland saw the film Nadia on television and its subject Nadia Comaneci became her new role model.
18.
Misty Copeland never studied ballet or gymnastics formally until her teenage years, but in her youth she enjoyed choreographing flips and dance moves to Mariah Carey songs.
19.
DelaCerna allowed Misty Copeland to go to the club after school until the workday ended.
20.
Bradley invited Misty Copeland to attend class at her small ballet school, San Pedro Dance Center.
21.
Misty Copeland began her ballet studies at the age of 13 at the San Pedro Dance Center when Cynthia Bradley began picking her up from school.
22.
Misty Copeland's mother told Copeland that she would have to give up ballet, but Bradley wanted Copeland to continue and offered to host her.
23.
DelaCerna agreed to this, and Misty Copeland moved in with Bradley and her family.
24.
Misty Copeland spent the weekdays with the Bradleys near the coast and the weekends at home with her mother, a two-hour bus ride away.
25.
Misty Copeland would spend most of her next three years with the Bradleys.
26.
When she saw Paloma Herrera, a principal ballerina with ABT, perform at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Misty Copeland began to idolize her as much as she did Mariah Carey.
27.
Misty Copeland's role was modified especially for her, and included ethnic dances.
28.
At fifteen years old, Misty Copeland won first place in the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards at the Chandler Pavilion in March 1998.
29.
Misty Copeland said it was the first time she ever battled nervousness.
30.
Misty Copeland attended the summer workshop at the San Francisco Ballet School in 1998.
31.
Misty Copeland declined the offer because of the encouragement from her mother to return home, the prospect of continuing personal training from the Bradley family and dreams of a subsequent summer with American Ballet Theatre.
32.
Misty Copeland returned to her mother's home, where the two frequently argued.
33.
Misty Copeland's mother had long resented the Bradleys' influence and soon decided that Copeland would cease study with the Bradleys.
34.
Misty Copeland was distraught with fear that she would not be able to dance.
35.
Misty Copeland had heard the term emancipation while in San Francisco; the procedure was common among young performers to secure their financial and residential independence.
36.
Misty Copeland ran away from home for three days and stayed with a dance friend, while Bartell filed the emancipation papers.
37.
Three days after running away, Misty Copeland was returned to her mother by the police.
38.
DelaCerna claimed that the Bradleys had brainwashed Misty Copeland into filing suit for emancipation from her mother, Allred claimed that the Bradleys had turned Misty Copeland against her mother by belittling DelaCerna's intelligence.
39.
The Bradleys noted that the management contract gave them authority over her career, but they stated that they would wait until Misty Copeland became eighteen before seeking twenty percent of Misty Copeland's earnings.
40.
Misty Copeland, who claimed she did not understand the term emancipation, withdrew the petition after informing the judge that such charges no longer represented her wishes.
41.
Misty Copeland re-enrolled at San Pedro High School for her junior year, on pace to graduate with her original class of 2000.
42.
Misty Copeland began ballet study at Lauridsen Ballet Centre in Torrance with former ABT dancer Diane Lauridsen, although her dancing was now restricted to afternoons in deference to her schooling.
43.
Late in 1998, all parties appeared on Leeza Gibbons' talk show, Leeza, where Misty Copeland sat silently as the adults "bickered shamelessly".
44.
Misty Copeland auditioned for several dance programs in 1999, and each made her an offer to enroll in its summer program.
45.
Misty Copeland performed with ABT as part of its 1999 and 2000 Summer Intensive programs.
46.
Misty Copeland's mother insisted that she finish high school, and so Copeland returned to California for her senior year, even though ABT arranged to pay for her performances, housing accommodations and academic arrangements.
47.
Misty Copeland studied at the Summer Intensive Program on full scholarship for both summers and was declared ABT's National Coca-Cola Scholar in 2000.
48.
When Misty Copeland joined the company, she weighed 108 pounds.
49.
Misty Copeland says that, over the next year, new friendships outside of ABT, including with Victoria Rowell and her boyfriend, Olu Evans, helped her to regain confidence in her body.
50.
Misty Copeland danced the Hungarian Princess in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.
51.
Misty Copeland was included in the 2004 picture book by former ABT dancer Rosalie O'Connor titled Getting Closer: A Dancer's Perspective.
52.
In both 2006 and 2007, Misty Copeland danced the role of Blossom in James Kudelka's Cinderella.
53.
Misty Copeland was appointed a soloist at ABT in August 2007, one of the youngest ABT dancers promoted to soloist.
54.
Misty Copeland has been described in the press as the Jackie Robinson of classical ballet.
55.
In 2009, Misty Copeland created a role in Aszure Barton's One of Three.
56.
In 2010, after recovering from a stress fracture, Misty Copeland performed in Birthday Offering at the Met and at the Guggenheim Museum danced to David Lang's music.
57.
Misty Copeland created the Spanish Dance in ABT artist-in-residence Alexei Ratmansky's new version of The Nutcracker, premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
58.
In Black History Month in 2011, Misty Copeland was selected by Essence as one of its 37 Boundary-breaking black women in entertainment.
59.
In 2012, Misty Copeland began achieving solo roles in full-length standard repertory ballets rather than works that were mostly relatively modern pieces.
60.
That year, Misty Copeland was recognized by The Council of Urban Professionals as their Breakthrough Leadership Award winner.
61.
Misty Copeland danced the role of Gamzatti in La Bayadere at the Met to praise from Alastair Macaulay of The New York Times, who noted her "adult complexity and worldly allure".
62.
The Firebird was again performed at the Met in June 2012, with Misty Copeland set to alternate in the lead.
63.
Misty Copeland reprised her role as Gulnare in June 2013 in the pirate-themed Le Corsaire.
64.
In May 2014, Misty Copeland performed the lead role of Swanilda in Coppelia at the Met.
65.
Misty Copeland was a "flawless" demi-soloist in Theme and Variations, according to Colleen Boresta of Critical Dance.
66.
In March 2015, Misty Copeland danced the role of Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California.
67.
In June 2015, Misty Copeland created the small role of the Fairy Fleur de farine in Ratmansky's The Sleeping Beauty.
68.
On June 30,2015, Misty Copeland became the first African-American woman to be promoted to principal ballerina in ABT's 75-year history.
69.
Misty Copeland's achievement was groundbreaking, as there have been very few African-American principal ballerinas at major companies.
70.
In January 2016, Misty Copeland reprised the role of Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty at the Kennedy Center, choreographed by Ratmansky.
71.
In 2019, Misty Copeland danced Harlequinade opposite Calvin Royal III in the roles of Pirrette and Pierrot, in a rare instance of a black couple dancing together in ballet.
72.
In March 2009, Misty Copeland filmed a music video with Prince for a cover of "Crimson and Clover", the first single from his 2009 album Lotusflower.
73.
Misty Copeland described his instructions as "Be you, feel the music, just move", and upon request for further instruction, "Keep doing what you're doing".
74.
Misty Copeland was a guest judge for the 11th season of FOX's So You Think You Can Dance.
75.
In May 2015, Misty Copeland was featured on 60 Minutes in a segment with correspondent Bill Whitaker.
76.
Misty Copeland was included in the 2015 International Best Dressed List, published by Vanity Fair.
77.
Misty Copeland danced with Craig Hall during Taylor Swift's performance of her song "Lover" at the 2019 American Music Awards.
78.
In 2011, Copeland unveiled a line of dancewear, called M by Misty, that she designed.
79.
Misty Copeland released a memoir in 2014, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina, co-authored by Charisse Jones.
80.
In 2017, Misty Copeland released the book Ballerina Body, a health and fitness guide.
81.
Misty Copeland released a children's book, Bunheads, in 2020, and in 2021 she released Black Ballerinas: My Journey to Our Legacy.
82.
In 2022, Misty Copeland released another memoir, The Wind at My Back: Resilience, Grace, and Other Gifts from My Mentor, Raven Wilkinson, co-written with Susan Fales-Hill.
83.
Misty Copeland co-founded a fundraiser, Swans for Relief, which compiled videos made in May 2020 by 32 ballerinas from 14 countries, including Misty Copeland, dancing The Dying Swan.
84.
Misty Copeland was featured in T-Mobile's ads for the BlackBerry in 2010 and an ad for Dr Pepper in 2013.
85.
Misty Copeland became a brand ambassador for Seiko in 2015.
86.
In 2014, Misty Copeland became a sponsored athlete for Under Armour, which paid her more than her ballet career.
87.
In February 2017, Misty Copeland debuted her own collection of activewear for Under Armour.
88.
In 2008, Misty Copeland won the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts, which funds study with master teachers and trainers outside of ABT.
89.
In 2014, Misty Copeland was named to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hartford for her contributions to classical ballet and helping to diversify the art form.
90.
In 2016, Misty Copeland won a Shorty Award for Best in Dance in Social Media.
91.
On May 17,2023, Misty Copeland received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from New York University.