Misty Copeland made history this week when the 32-year-old ballerina was named the first black female principal at the American Ballet Theater (ABT). Here, Copeland dances as Gamzatti in Natalia Makarova's ballet La Bayadère.
Rosalie O'Connor
Copeland has danced many of ballet’s most iconic roles, including Swanilda in Coppélia.
Naim Chidiac/Abu Dhabi Festival
Copeland—here appearing as the Flower Girl in Gaîté Parisienne—said this week, “I had moments of doubting myself, and wanting to quit, because I didn’t know that there would be a future for an African-American woman to make it to this level...At the same time, it made me so hungry to push through, to carry the next generation.”
Gene Schiavone
Copeland dances as Gulnare in Le Corsaire, based on the poem by Lord Byron.
Gene Schiavone
Copeland in one of ballet’s most romantic roles, as Juliet in Kenneth Macmillan’s Romeo and Juliet.
Rosalie O'Connor
Roman Zhurbin (Head Wrangler), Misty Copeland (Cowgirl), and Craig Salstein (Champion Roper) in Agnes de Mille’s Rodeo.
Marty Sohl/American Ballet Theatre
An iconic ballerina for an iconic ballet: Misty Copeland dances in Swan Lake.
Queensland Performing Arts Centre/Darren Thomas
Misty Copeland (Princess Florine) and Gabe Stone Shayer (Bluebird) dance in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Sleeping Beauty.
Gene Schiavone
Misty Copeland dances the part of Odile to James Whiteside’s Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake.
Gene Schiavone
Copeland shows her stage presence in George Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux.
Rosalie O'Connor
