If you show up at the Metropolitan
Opera House on any given night, after the ballet you will likely find a crowd
of young and old alike waiting for a ballerina who has become a household name.
That name is Misty Copeland.
Misty Copeland, who is known outside
of the ballet world for her Under Armour advertising campaign, “I Will What I
Want,” is a principal dancer with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre, and
was the feature of a TV spot that has close to 10 million hits on YouTube. It
begins with a voiceover of a young girl reading a rejection letter from a ballet
company that Copeland actually received early on. It says: “Dear Candidate: Thank
you for your application to our ballet academy. Unfortunately, you have not
been accepted. You lack the right feet, Achilles tendons, turnout, torso length
and bust. You have the wrong body for ballet and at 13, you are too old to be
considered.” The video continues with a beautiful ballet dance from Copeland,
highlighting her athleticism, grace and power. The description from Under Amour
on the video says, “Misty Copeland’s destiny was not to be a ballerina. But
will trumps fate.”1
Will certainly trumped fate when
Copeland was named principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre in June
2015. Very few ballet dancers make it to this elite level, and Misty Copeland
made history when she became the first African-American to be named principal
dancer in the 75-year history of the company. This would open up the eyes of
people far and wide, making her a symbol because of the low numbers of African-American
ballerinas in companies around the globe.
The odds were against Misty from the
time she began ballet. An interview with 60 Minutes highlighted many of
the struggles she had to overcome.2 She was from a poor family and did
indeed start dancing (as the Under Armour commercial indicates) at the late age
of 13. She had an extremely athletic build and did not have the typical look of
a ballerina. However, that did not stop her. She worked hard every day,
enduring long hours at the studio to make up for lost time. She was told over
and over again that she would ne
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