Misty Copeland

BORN: SEPTEMBER 10, 1982, KANSAS CITY, MO

I’m 52, I started when I was thirteen, I’m Black, but I’ve made it happen. I’m very lucky to be where I am…. It’s possible.

Misty Copeland is an award-winning American dancer who in 2015 became the first African American to be named principal ballerina for the prestigious American Ballet Theatre (ABT). A graceful, athletic dance prodigy, Misty began formally studying ballet at the relatively late age of thirteen, when she took lessons at a local Boys & Girls Club in her hometown. In the four years that followed, Misty’s rise in the dance world was meteoric.

Misty’s parents, Douglas Copeland and Sylvia DelaCerna, divorced when she was a toddler. As a single parent, her mother struggled to provide for Misty and her five siblings. But Sylvia always encouraged her daughter’s love of dance, especially when coach Elizabeth Cantine spotted Misty’s natural grace and raw talent as she performed on her school’s drill team. As Misty’s training intensified, she lived apart from her mother for three years, staying with her guardian and manager, Cynthia Bradley.

At fifteen years old, Misty won first place at the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards; she was later recognized by the Los Angeles Times as the best young dancer in the Los Angeles area. Shortly after, she moved to New York City and became a member of ABT at age seventeen. As a soloist, Misty won great acclaim for her starring performance in ABT’s production of lgor Stravinsky’s Firebird.

Major surgery in 2012 to address fractures in her tibia threatened to end Misty’s dance career, but with discipline, rigor, and renewed care for her body, Misty returned stronger and more confident than ever, performing starring roles with ABT, including becoming the first African American woman in a professional company to perform the role of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake in 2014, dancing with Prince, acting on Broadway, appearing with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, interviewing alongside President Obama, and writing several books. PBS also produced the film A Ballerina’s Tale, documenting Misty’s life and rise to prominence. The “unlikely ballerina” continues to perform with ABT.