MIsty Copeland
Early Life
Misty Copeland is an African-American dancer with ABT (American Ballet Theatre). She grew up being judged by her skin color and the way her family lived. She had five siblings. Her mother struggled with caring for them. Misty grew up in many different places, her mom went through many boyfriends. For every boyfriend that her mother went through, it was another time they ended up running away to a new man. As you can imagine the constant run didn't make it easy to have many friends or do activities.
She was inspired by Olympic gymnasts, mostly their floor routines. This caused a fire in her heart to dance. In the beginning it was just in her back yard. All she needed was some music. This led her to try out for Drill Team only to be appointed captain. The teacher in charge of Drill Team suggested to take ballet at the Boys & Girls club Misty went to. She was nervous but went anyway. She discovered she had true natural talent in ballet. The boys & girls club ballet teacher gave Misty a scholarship to her studio. Her love of ballet grew and blossomed there. She was first discovered when she got first in her division at the Music Center's Spotlight Awards. She was only 15 and had been dancing for two years.
She went to the San Francisco Ballet summer intensive after only two years of dancing. The following year she was accepted into the ABT summer intensive. As an escape from an awful custody battle she accepted the offer to attend ABT's school and at 19 years old became apart of ABT's corps dancers. (The dancers that dance the same dance together at the same time.) Her climb from beginner to professional dancer was simply unheard of, it took her only six years.
Activist Life
All through out her life she had to stand up to color discrimination. In her book, Life in motion, she talks about the one letter from a company saying that she had not been accepted into their summer intensive. Her ballet teacher was absolutely positive that the one rejection was purely because of her skin color. This lead her to push harder than ever and become the first ABT soloist in twenty years, according to the LA Magazine article; Misty Copeland Talks About Her Rise From Child Prodigy to Ballerina. She used her rights, did what she loves and it was all for, as she states in her book, "the little brown girls".
Misty Copeland is an African-American dancer with ABT (American Ballet Theatre). She grew up being judged by her skin color and the way her family lived. She had five siblings. Her mother struggled with caring for them. Misty grew up in many different places, her mom went through many boyfriends. For every boyfriend that her mother went through, it was another time they ended up running away to a new man. As you can imagine the constant run didn't make it easy to have many friends or do activities.
She was inspired by Olympic gymnasts, mostly their floor routines. This caused a fire in her heart to dance. In the beginning it was just in her back yard. All she needed was some music. This led her to try out for Drill Team only to be appointed captain. The teacher in charge of Drill Team suggested to take ballet at the Boys & Girls club Misty went to. She was nervous but went anyway. She discovered she had true natural talent in ballet. The boys & girls club ballet teacher gave Misty a scholarship to her studio. Her love of ballet grew and blossomed there. She was first discovered when she got first in her division at the Music Center's Spotlight Awards. She was only 15 and had been dancing for two years.
She went to the San Francisco Ballet summer intensive after only two years of dancing. The following year she was accepted into the ABT summer intensive. As an escape from an awful custody battle she accepted the offer to attend ABT's school and at 19 years old became apart of ABT's corps dancers. (The dancers that dance the same dance together at the same time.) Her climb from beginner to professional dancer was simply unheard of, it took her only six years.
Activist Life
All through out her life she had to stand up to color discrimination. In her book, Life in motion, she talks about the one letter from a company saying that she had not been accepted into their summer intensive. Her ballet teacher was absolutely positive that the one rejection was purely because of her skin color. This lead her to push harder than ever and become the first ABT soloist in twenty years, according to the LA Magazine article; Misty Copeland Talks About Her Rise From Child Prodigy to Ballerina. She used her rights, did what she loves and it was all for, as she states in her book, "the little brown girls".