On September 10th, 1982, Misty Danielle Copeland was born. Misty was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to her mother, Sylvia Delacerna. Between Ages 3-7, Misty lived with her five siblings, her mom, and mom’s third husband, Harold Brown. Post-divorce, they moved to San Pedro, California, where Sylvia eventually married her fourth husband, Robert Delacerna. Unfortunately, Misty’s childhood was unstable because of financial issues and never having a real home. After living with various friends and boyfriends, Sylvia moved her and her kids into two small rooms at the Sunset Inn in Gardena, California. During this time, Misty was a part of Dana Middle school’s drill team. Her coach, Elizabeth Cantine, had told her she had an amazing gift and encouraged her to take ballet classes at the local boys and girls club. Misty was then enrolled in the San Pedro ballet school intensive program. Due to Misty’s intense schedule, her mom allowed her to live with her current ballet teacher, Cynthia Bradley, to allow her to greatly succeed.
At 15, Misty won the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Award for her amazing talent in ballet. As a result of her winning the award, she got offered a full scholarship to the intensive summer program at San Francisco Ballet, which she accepted. Because Misty had such an intense schedule, her mom, Sylvia, began to miss her daughter. This led to a custody dispute between her mom and the Bradleys, which ended with her mom wanting her to return home. Two years later in 2000, Misty won a scholarship to the American Ballet Theater (ABT) intensive summer program. That same year, she was named ABT’s national Coca-Cola Scholar, which gives recognition to highly talented young ballet dancers. She was also invited to join the ABT studio in New York City. Misty found herself in a new world of cattiness, highly competitive, and populated with white dancers, leading to her questioning her own full-body figure as a black dancer. Misty shared on social media a couple of years back that she learned to color her own ballet shoes to match her own skin tone.
Misty was a perfectionist. She successfully climbed her way to the top due to her tenacity and excellent ballet skills. In 2001, she became a member of ABT’s Corps De Ballet. Misty was the only African-American woman out of 80 dancers. She became the first black dancer in two decades to lead in two major ABT pieces. Later in 2009, she was dancing in Prince’s music video for “Crimson and Clover” which is about the feeling of intense love and falling for someone new.
In 2012, after her beautiful performance in “Firebird” she suffered six fractures in her left shin. The injury was thought to be career- ending for Misty. However, in 2015, Misty became ABT’s first African-American female principal ballerina in their 75 -year history. Misty also became an author for her kids’ book “Firebird” which is about a young dancer with brown skin. Misty is currently focusing on The Misty Copeland Foundation, which promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion in dance education, and her production company, Life InMotion Productions, to share representative stories through film and dance. At age 43, Misty continues to dance defying odds.
