Posted
on June 30, 2016
In May, 2015, Misty
Copeland was certainly one of the most famous ballerinas in the
United States. She had been interviewed on TV, she had appeared on
the cover of non-ballet magazines like Time,
and she had starred in an online ad that had been viewed more than
8,000,000 times! She had lines of fans waiting for autographs after
her performances, and she had danced in some of ballet's biggest
roles, on some of its biggest stages.
And
yet she still hadn't been promoted to “principal dancer.”
Finally,
on this date in 2015, she became the first African-American woman to
be named a principal dancer of the American Ballet Theater.
(Black
dancers have broken through “the color barrier” and been named
principal dancers in other prestigious ballet companies in the U.S. before this date. But the list
of those who have done so is very, very short. And the ABT is one of the top three companies in the U.S.)
Misty
Copeland didn't start dancing ballet until age 13. She was
immediately, however, considered a prodigy – and her
ballet teachers even fought her mother for custody of the teen! At
age 15, she was already an award-winning dancer checking out the
professional offers that were coming her way.
In
addition to dancing, dancing, dancing, Copeland has become a public
speaker and an author. She has already narrated a documentary about
her challenges as a ballet dancer. She has performed on Broadway,
toured as a featured dance for Prince, and appeared as herself on TV
shows. She has endorsements for products, and she was named one of
the 100 most influential people in the world.
Well
done, Misty!!!
You
might want to check out the book Firebird, by Misty Copeland.Her other book is Life in Motion.
Also
on this date:
Plan
ahead:
Check out my Pinterest boards for:
And
here are my Pinterest boards for:
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