Misty Copeland Is Promoted to Principal Dancer at American Ballet Theater

Unless she’s on her toes, Misty Copeland is just a little over five feet tall, but she’s a towering figure in the world of ballet — a top dancer in one of the top companies; American Ballet Theater. She’s been called a prodigy, a breath of fresh air. She wants to blow the cobwebs out of the stuffy world of classical ballet and open the doors to everyone. Misty Copeland is the embodiment of the American dream. She grew up poor, didn’t hear classical music until she was a teenager, she’s an African American in a profession where there are few. At 32, she has overcome more obstacles than most of us ever face. When she began, one dance company told her she would never make it in ballet. Boy, were they wrong.

Most Wonderful Breaking News!!! Misty Copeland Promoted to Principal Dancer at American Ballet Theater

Misty Copeland Is Promoted to Principal Dancer at American Ballet TheaterNYTimes

Misty Copeland today became the first African American female principal dancer in the 75-year history of American Ballet Theater. Her promotion comes after more than 14 years with the company and nearly eight as a soloist, where she was one of three African Americans in the history of the company.

Copeland was one of five TIME 100 covers in 2015. In May she was profiled by CBS 60 Minutes. (See above).

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Misty Copeland’s Under Armour ad has more than 8 million views.

Over the past year, whenever Ms. Copeland, 32, danced leading roles with Ballet Theater, her performances became events, drawing large, diverse, enthusiastic crowds to cheer her on at the Metropolitan Opera house, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. After she starred in “Swan Lake” with Ballet Theater last week — becoming the first African-American to do so with the company at the Met — the crowd of autograph seekers was so large that people had to be moved away from the cramped stage door area.