Misty Danielle Copeland was born on September 10, 1982 in Kansas City, Missouri. Even though she was born in Kansas City, she was raised in San Pedro, California. Misty was very late in starting ballet studies, but it didn’t stop her. Usually, ballerinas start studying when they are three or four, but Misty was thirteen when she took her first ballet class. When she unlocked the magical world of ballet, Misty was coping with the fact she was living in a shabby motel room with her five siblings and fighting for a place to sleep on the floor. A true phenomenon, she was dancing en pointe within three months of joining her first ballet dance class and performing professionally in just over a year: an accomplishment unheard of for any classical
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Eight months after joining the company, she was sidelined for nearly a year by a lumbar stress fracture. When Copeland joined the company, she weighed 108 pounds and is 5’ 2” tall. At age 19, her adolescence development had been delayed, a situation common in ballet dancers. After the lumbar fracture, her doctor told her that inducing her development to becoming an adult would help to strengthen her bones, and he prescribed pills. Copeland recalls that in one month she gained 10 pounds, and her small breasts developed very quickly. "Leotards had to be altered for me ... to cover my chest, for instance. I hated this sign that I was different from the others. ... I became so self-conscious that, for the first time in my life, I couldn’t dance strong. I was too busy trying to hide my chest." The management of the ABT Studio Company noticed and called her in to talk about her body. The professional pressure to conform to conventional ballet aesthetics resulted in body image struggles and a binge eating disorder. This extraordinary dancer knew in her heart, she had to confront this situation immediately, therefore, she cultivated new friendships with people not belonging to ABT over the next year, and these relationships helped her to regain confidence in her body. Misty explained, "My curves became an integral part of who I am as a dancer, …show more content…
Misty performed with a radiance that encircled her whole being. Her performances were continually flawless.
Ballet was not the only venue in which Misty excelled. She has been a guest star on numerous television programs and Misty’s story has been featured in many publications. Many honors and awards are bestowed on Misty. One of the more prominent award received is the “Breakthrough Award” from the Council of Urban Professionals in April 2012. May 2012 brought Misty an induction into the Boys & Girls Club National Hall of Fame. In addition to these awards, Misty was named National Youth of the Year Ambassador for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in June 2013. She received the Young, Gifted & Black honor at the 2013 Black Girls Rock!
All of her hard work has earned her many endorsements but the most popular is the “I Will What I Want” campaign commercial under Armour. You may watch this commercial by clicking on the following link:
Eight months after joining the company, she was sidelined for nearly a year by a lumbar stress fracture. When Copeland joined the company, she weighed 108 pounds and is 5’ 2” tall. At age 19, her adolescence development had been delayed, a situation common in ballet dancers. After the lumbar fracture, her doctor told her that inducing her development to becoming an adult would help to strengthen her bones, and he prescribed pills. Copeland recalls that in one month she gained 10 pounds, and her small breasts developed very quickly. "Leotards had to be altered for me ... to cover my chest, for instance. I hated this sign that I was different from the others. ... I became so self-conscious that, for the first time in my life, I couldn’t dance strong. I was too busy trying to hide my chest." The management of the ABT Studio Company noticed and called her in to talk about her body. The professional pressure to conform to conventional ballet aesthetics resulted in body image struggles and a binge eating disorder. This extraordinary dancer knew in her heart, she had to confront this situation immediately, therefore, she cultivated new friendships with people not belonging to ABT over the next year, and these relationships helped her to regain confidence in her body. Misty explained, "My curves became an integral part of who I am as a dancer, …show more content…
Misty performed with a radiance that encircled her whole being. Her performances were continually flawless.
Ballet was not the only venue in which Misty excelled. She has been a guest star on numerous television programs and Misty’s story has been featured in many publications. Many honors and awards are bestowed on Misty. One of the more prominent award received is the “Breakthrough Award” from the Council of Urban Professionals in April 2012. May 2012 brought Misty an induction into the Boys & Girls Club National Hall of Fame. In addition to these awards, Misty was named National Youth of the Year Ambassador for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in June 2013. She received the Young, Gifted & Black honor at the 2013 Black Girls Rock!
All of her hard work has earned her many endorsements but the most popular is the “I Will What I Want” campaign commercial under Armour. You may watch this commercial by clicking on the following link: