Misty Copeland

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Misty Copeland as Swanilda (2014)

Misty Copeland (born 10. September 1982 in Kansas City , Missouri ) is an American ballet - dancer , global prominence gained when she first on 30 June 2015. African American to prima ballerina of the American Ballet Theater was. She is also among the Time 100 of 2015; in 2014 she published her autobiography "Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina".

Life

Misty Copeland is of African American , Italian, and German American descent. She grew up in San Pedro (Los Angeles) together with her three (half) siblings from their second marriage as the youngest daughter of Sylvia DelaCerna and only met her father at the age of 22. The mother's third and fourth marriage resulted in two younger half-siblings. Her mother had studied dance and was temporarily a cheerleader , but worked as a medical assistant and in sales .

Copeland attended elementary school in San Pedro and was inspired by her sister to join the local drill team . Their trainer Elizabeth Cantine put in touch with one of her friends, Cynthia Bradley, who offered a free weekly ballet class. 13-year-old Copeland declined this invitation at first because she had no way of making the trip to ballet school because her mother was working. Misty was later picked up by Bradley himself. Cynthia Bradley made it possible for Copeland to continue her education in 1995 by letting her live with her until around 1998, when her mother left Los Angeles due to a separation to move to the small town of Gardena . Two years after they started living together, their trainer and Copeland decided to homeschool themselves to create capacity for ballet lessons. During this period, Copeland only visited her family by bus on weekends and holidays.

Custody dispute between mother and trainer

Although Cynthia and her husband Patrick Bradley were qualified instructors - Cynthia had worked as a dancer, Patrick was a high school art teacher and also a trained dancer, both ran a private ballet school - Copeland's mother had no sympathy for the couple. After Copeland lived with the Bradleys for about three years, she wanted to initiate a process to recognize her maturity ( emancipation petition ), while her mother tried to get a restraining order (for example: ban on contact ) between the Bradleys and Misty Copeland. The restraining order was not put into effect because there was no legal need for the harassment or stalking . The conflict was discussed in the press ; Women’s rights activist Gloria Allred was among the lawyers involved . Misty hid with a friend for three days while the legal age of consent was in progress, but then returned to her mother. The applications for maturity and the ban on contact were withdrawn, from then on Copeland took lessons with other ballet teachers.

Career

Copeland joined the American Ballet Theater (ABT) in September 2000 and was given a permanent position as a member of the corps de ballet in 2001 . In 2007 she became a soloist at ABT and in 2009 she worked with Prince ; she participates in a music video for the album Lotusflow3r . In 2012 Copeland had the first title role in The Firebird in the choreography by Alexei Ratmansky. On June 30, 2015, she became the first female Afro-American prima ballerina in the 75-year history of the American Ballet Theater and thus only the second African-American woman in such a position in classical ballet in the United States.

On the occasion of the Grammy Awards 2020 , a tribute concert for Prince took place on January 28, 2020 in the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles under the motto "Let's Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince", in which Copeland was a dancer. The concert aired on U.S. television on April 21, 2020, the fourth anniversary of Prince's death.

“She's an incredibly gifted ballerina. [...] She's a child who dances in her soul. "

“She is an incredibly talented ballerina. She is a child who dances with her soul. "

- Debbie Allen

Awards

  • 1997: 1st place in the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards
  • 2014: Dance Magazine Award
  • 2015: Appointment to prima ballerina

Others

Publications

Book cover for Firebird

Autobiography

Children's books

literature

Newspaper articles

Movie and TV

Web links

Commons : Misty Copeland  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Allison Adato: "Solo in the City" ( English ), Los Angeles Times , December 5, 1999. Retrieved July 3, 2015
  2. ↑ Deborah Hastings: Teen dancer stumbles in adults' tug-of-war , southcoasttoday.com, November 1, 1998. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  3. ↑ Gia Kourlas: Dance: Where Are All the Black Swans? , The New York Times website, May 6, 2007. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  4. ↑ Michael Cooper: Misty Copeland Is Promoted to Principal Dancer at American Ballet Theater , The New York Times website, June 30, 2015. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  5. ↑ Chuck Arnold: Grammy salute 'Let's Go Crazy' proves nothing compares 2 Prince. In: nypost.com. April 21, 2020, accessed on May 15, 2020 .
  6. ↑ admin: The Best Moments From 'Let's Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute To Prince' [Videos]. In: liveforlivemusic.com. April 21, 2020, accessed on May 15, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Diane Haithman: Giving Young Performers a Chance to Earn the Spotlight , Los Angeles Times , March 21, 1998. Retrieved on July 3, 2015.
  8. ↑ Jim Farber: This Swan is More than Coping - Misty Copeland's performances Friday and Sunday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion will have special significance for the 25-year-old ballerina ( Memento of the original from July 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: Der Archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , la.com, March 26, 2008. Retrieved July 3, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.la.com
  9. ↑ Video
personal data
SURNAME Copeland, Misty
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ballet dancer
DATE OF BIRTH September 10, 1982
PLACE OF BIRTH Kansas City , Missouri , United States