Misty Danielle Copeland . American Ballet Dancer for the American Ballet Theater , one of the top three classical ballet companies in the United States.
Summary
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- 1 Biographical synthesis
- 1 Career
- 2 Soloist
- 3 Main Dancer
- 2 Awards
- 3 Sources
Biographical synthesis
He was born on September 10, 1982 in Kansas City, Missouri, United States .
Race
At the American Ballet Theater, Copeland auditioned for various dance programs in 1999, and each one made her an offer to enroll in their summer program. He performed with ABT as part of their intensive summer programs in 1999 and 2000 . At the end of the first summer, he was asked to join ABT Studio Company.
His mother insisted that he finish high school, so Copeland returned to California for his senior year, despite the fact that ABT arranged to pay for his performances, accommodation, and academic arrangements.
She studied in the Intensive Summer Program with a full scholarship for both summers and was declared a National Coca-Cola Fellow of ABT in 2000. In the Intensive Summer Program 2000, she danced the role of Kitri in Don Quixote. Copeland’s strongest memory since the summer is working with Tharp on Push Comes to Shove. Of the 150 dancers in the Summer 2000 Intensive Program, she was one of six selected to join the junior dance group.
Soloist
He was appointed a soloist at ABT in August 2007 , one of ABT’s youngest dancers promoted to soloist. Although, she was described by early accounts as the first African American woman promoted to soloist for ABT, Anne Benna Sims and Nora Kimball were soloists with ABT in the 1980s . Male soloist Keith Lee also preceded her.
As of 2008 , Copeland was the only African-American woman in the dance company for its entire ABT career. The only African-American male in the company during its career, Danny Tidwell, left in 2005. In an international ballet community lacking in diversity, he was as unusual as he was African-American. dancer, who endured cultural isolation. She has been described in the press as the Jackie Robinson of classical ballet.
Main dancer
On June 30, 2015 , Copeland became the first African-American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in ABT’s 75-year history. Copeland’s achievement was groundbreaking, as there were very few African-American dancers in the major companies. Debra Austin became a director at the Pennsylvania Ballet in 1982 , and Lauren Anderson became a director at the Houston Ballet in 1990 , the first black principal dancers in major American companies. According to the 2015 documentary on Copeland, “there has never been a black principal dancer in a major international company.”
Awards
In 1997 , Copeland won the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Award as the best dancer in Southern California.
After two summer workshops with ABT, she became a member of ABT’s Studio Company in 2000 and her ballet corps in 2001.
She became a soloist for ABT in 2007 until mid-2015, she was described as having matured into a more contemporary and sophisticated dancer.
