Misty Copeland
- Born:
- September 10, 1982, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. (age 42)
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Misty Copeland (born September 10, 1982, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.) is an American ballet dancer who, in 2015, became the first African American female principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT).
Early life
Copeland and her five siblings grew up in San Pedro, California, with a single mother who struggled with financial instability. When discussing her youth with The New York Times in 2025, Copeland described “I would go from day to day, night to night not knowing where we were sleeping, not knowing if we were going to have food, not knowing how I was going to get to school, if I was going to school.”
Training
Copeland’s first formal encounter with dance was on the drill team of her middle school. The team’s coach noticed her talent and recommended that she attend ballet classes taught by Cynthia Bradley, creative director of the San Pedro City Ballet, at the local Boys & Girls Club. Copeland’s natural ability was quickly recognized by Bradley, and, though age 13 was a late start for a serious dance career, Copeland began taking classes with Bradley at the San Pedro Ballet School. When her training became more intensive, Copeland moved in with Bradley and her family in order to be closer to the studio. In 1998, at age 15, she won first prize in the ballet category of the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards. That summer she was accepted with a full scholarship into the intensive summer program at the San Francisco Ballet.
That same year a custody battle ensued between the Bradleys and Copeland’s mother, who, at that time, was living with her children in a motel. Copeland moved back in with her family and began attending San Pedro High School. She continued studying ballet at Lauridsen Ballet Centre in Torrance, California.
Joining American Ballet Theatre
In 2000 Copeland won another full scholarship, this time to the ABT’s intensive summer program. That year she was also named the ABT’s National Coca-Cola Scholar. At the end of the summer, she was invited to join the ABT studio company, a selective program for young dancers still in training. Soon after, in 2001, she became a member of the ABT’s corps de ballet, the only African American woman in a group of 80 dancers. Copeland was challenged by her difference, not only in skin color but also in body type. She was regularly reminded that she was more muscular and full-figured than her peers, but she nevertheless climbed the ranks by virtue of her exceptional skill. In 2007 she became the company’s first African American female soloist in two decades (Anne Benna Sims and Nora Kimball had preceded her). Notable performances included the title role in The Firebird (2012), Gulnare in Le Corsaire (2013), Swanilda in Coppélia (2014), and the dual lead role, Odette/Odile, in Swan Lake (2014).
Copeland’s inspiring story made her a role model and a pop icon. In 2009 Copeland appeared in a music video for Prince’s cover of “Crimson and Clover”. She also performed live with him on his tour the following year. Copeland became a strong advocate for diversifying the field of ballet and creating access for dancers of varying racial and economic backgrounds. She served on the advisory committee for the ABT’s Project Plié, a program (started in 2013) offering training and mentorship to dance teachers in racially diverse communities around the country as well as in Boys & Girls Clubs. Copeland published the memoir Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina (2014) and had endorsements with companies, including the leather accessories company Coach and the athletic wear brand Under Armour. In June 2015 the ABT chose Copeland as its first African American female principal dancer in the company’s 75-year history. In August of that year, she had her Broadway debut in the role of Ivy Smith in Leonard Bernstein’s musical On the Town. She made her feature film debut, fittingly playing the ballerina princess in The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018), an adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s 19th-century ballet
Other publications
In addition to her memoir, Copeland also wrote Ballerina Body: Dancing and Eating Your Way to a Leaner, Stronger, and More Graceful You (2017), Black Ballerinas: My Journey to Our Legacy (2021), and The Wind at My Back: Resilience, Grace, and Other Gifts from My Mentor, Raven Wilkinson (2022) as well as the children’s books Firebird (2014) and Bunheads (2020).
Personal life and retirement
Copeland married her longtime boyfriend Olu Evans in 2016, and the couple had a son, Jackson Evans, in 2022. Copeland announced her retirement from ABT in 2025. Her final performance would be during the company’s fall gala.