Ballet is an art form that many see as unchanging, sticking to it’s roots as an elite European art form. Though in 2017, as America’s population continues to diversify, many people go to a ballet expecting to see at least some range in ethnicity on stage. However, if you look through some of the biggest dance companies in the US, a large percentage of the dancers are white. There are many factors that lead to ballet’s lack of diversity. There are few role models to follow. Companies fail to invest in underrepresented communities. Ballet training is infamously expensive. Despite these obstacles, Misty Copeland became the first African American dancer at the American Ballet Theatre [ABT] in 2015. In her journey to become a principal ballerina, Copeland experienced an unstable upbringing, racism and judgement about her body.

Misty Copeland grew up in San Pedro, California, where she slept on the floor of a motel room with her five siblings. Her single mother worked several jobs just to provide food for the family. When she was 13, Copeland visited a Boys and Girls Club, where ballet teacher Cindy Bradley discovered her and encouraged her to pursue formal ballet training. A skill that takes most dancers years to master, she was dancing on pointe in just 3 months. Copeland was skilled but living so far away from her dance studio caused issues. At the age of 15, Copeland was involved in a custody battle between her month and dance teacher, Bradley. The case was eventually dropped and she continued to live with her mother. Three years later, she began dancing professionally at ABT.

At the beginning of her professional dance career, Copeland was built like most ballerinas She was slender and muscular. Eight months after she started with ABT she fractured a bone in her back during a rehearsal. Her doctor put her on birth control to induce menstruation because the hormones would help strengthen her bones. After a month of birth control, Copeland gained ten pounds and went up several bra sizes. Used to sharing leotards with her fellow similarly built dancers, this shift in her body caused Copeland to need her leotards specially altered. This change did not go unnoticed at ABT. The artistic staff sat her down for a meeting and told her “Your body has changed. The lines you’re creating don’t look the way they used to. We’d like to see you lengthen” which essentially translated to “You need to lose weight.” This was the start of Copeland’s body image struggles and binge eating disorder. She would get home, have two dozen Krispy Kreme donuts delivered and eat most of them by herself. Thankfully, through new friendships and mentors, Copeland began to regain a positive self-image and developed healthier eating habits. She began to accept her body’s evolution into womanhood and believed in herself as a dancer again. She explained, “My curves became an integral part of who I am as a dancer, not something I needed to lose to become one. I started dancing with confidence and joy, and soon the staff at ABT began giving me positive feedback again. And I think I changed everyone’s mind about what a perfect dancer is supposed to look like.”

For more than ten years, Copeland was the singular black ballerina at ABT. In 2007, she was the first African American soloist. In 2015, she was the first African American principal dancer. Copeland said she never experienced overt racism at ABT, she expressed frustration that young African American girls are discouraged from pursuing ballet as a career. Copeland has used her success as a platform to encourage more diversity in ballet, both as dancers and viewers. She’s teamed up with ABT and the Boys and Girls Club of America to start Project Plié to reach out to underrepresented communities and to, overall, diversify America’s ballet.