Misty Copeland Biography
Misty Copeland is an American ballet dancer. She is associated with the American Ballet Theatre one of the three leading Classical ballet companies in the United States. She is the first African American female ballet dancer to be a principle in the American Ballet Theater. Her first introduction to Ballet occurred when she was at the age of 13 while on the drill team for her middle school.
Misty Copeland Age
She was born on September 10, 1982, in Kansas City, Missouri, United States of America. She is 36 years of age as of 2018.
Misty Copeland Height
In feet, she is 5 feet 2 inches while in meters she is 1.57 meters.
Misty Copeland Parents
She was born to Doug Copeland and Sylvia Dela Cerna. She was born alongside five other siblings namely; Cameron, Lindsay, Doulas Jr, Christopher, and Ericka. Cameron and Lindsay were her step-siblings.
At first, her mother was against her playing Ballet due to the fear that she was going to lose her daughter to the ballet coach. Due to this Sylvia, her mother instructed her to stop dancing. Due to this Bradleys’s coach advised her to file Emancipation papers against her mum so as to secure her legal independence. In return, her mum filed a restraining order against Bradley’s coach. The case which was before Los Angeles County Superior Court was quashed as Copeland returned home to her mother who then got her a new Ballet teacher Diane Lauridsen.
Misty Copeland Husband
Misty Copeland is married to Olu Evans. The got married on July 31, 2016, in the Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach, California. Copland and Evans had known each other since 2004 after being introduced to each other by Olu’s cousin, Taye Diggs.
Olu Evans is a corporate attorney and a graduate of Emory University where he studied law and passed the bar in the year 2007. Additionally, he runs a dancewear company called Muse Dancewear.
Misty Copeland Career
In 2000 she won another full scholarship to the ABT’s intensive summer program and was named the ABT’s National Coca-Cola Scholar. She was invited to join the ABT studio company. In 2001, she became a member of the ABT’s corps de ballet and the only African American woman in a group of 80 dancers. She climbed the ranks by virtue of her exceptional skill even till she became the company’s first African American female soloist in two decades in 2007.
Her notable performances included the title role in The Firebird in 2012, Gulnare in Le Corsaire in 2013, Swanilda in Coppélia in 2014, and the dual lead role, Odette/Odile, in Swan Lake in 2014.
Her inspiring story made her a role model and a pop icon. In 2009 she appeared in a music video for the song “Crimson and Clover” by Prince. Additionally, performed live with him on his tour the following year. She became a strong advocate for diversifying the field of ballet and creating access for dancers of varying racial and economic backgrounds. She has served on the advisory committee for the ABT’s Project Plié, a program since 2013, offering training and mentorship to dance teachers in racially diverse communities around the country as well as in Boys & Girls Clubs.
She had endorsements with companies such as Coach (leather accessories) and Under Armour (athletic wear).
In June 2015 the ABT chose Copeland as its first African American female principal dancer in the company’s 75-year history.
Misty Copeland Book
Misty Copeland Nutcracker
Copeland was cast to dance the lead ballerina role in the forthcoming 2018 Disney film, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, based on the 1816 story “The Nutcracker”.
Misty Copeland Performances
Misty Copeland Quotes
- Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.
- My childhood is a part of my story, and it’s why I’m who I am today and why my career is what it is.
- I say over and over again that I am just standing on the shoulders of so many who have set this path for me, and they may not be seen or recognized or have been given an opportunity to have a voice, but I’m here representing all of those dancers. Dance Theatre of Harlem Virginia Johnson, Tai Jimenez, Lauren Anderson.
- I traced the Marley floor with my pointe shoes, and imagine myself on the stage, not as a member of the corps, but as a principal dancer. It felt right. It felt like a promise. Someday, somehow, it was going to happen for me.
I say over and over again that I am just standing on the shoulders of so many who have set this path for me, and they may not be seen or recognized or have been given an opportunity to have a voice, but I’m here representing all of those dancers. Dance Theatre of Harlem Virginia Johnson, Tai Jimenez, Lauren Anderson.
My curves became an integral part of who I am as a dancer, not something I needed to lose to become one. - My family didn’t have very much money, so ballet wasn’t even on my radar; I just found it randomly when I was 13 at a Boys & Girls Club. We were practicing in a basketball court in gym clothes with some old socks on. Even though it terrified me at first, I found that I really liked it.
- I say over and over again that I am just standing on the shoulders of so many who have set this path for me, and they may not be seen or recognized or have been given an opportunity to have a voice, but I’m here representing all of those dancers. Dance Theatre of Harlem Virginia Johnson, Tai Jimenez, Lauren Anderson.
- I don’t want to be anything else other than a ballerina. I love what I do outside of my work, but at the end of the day, I have to sacrifice.
Adopted from: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/misty_copeland_749737
Misty Copeland Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv3XohRjRfC/