Misty Copeland

@Black Women, Career and Childhood

Misty Copeland is an American ballet dancer

Sep 10, 1982

MissouriAfrican American DancersAfrican AmericansAmericanDancersBallet DancersVirgo Celebrities
Biography

Personal Details

  • Birthday: September 10, 1982
  • Nationality: American
  • Famous: Black Women, African American Dancers, African Americans, Dancers, Ballet Dancers
  • City/State: Missouri
  • Spouses: Olu Evans (m. 2016)
  • Known as: Misty Danielle Copeland
  • Universities:
    • San Pedro High School

Misty Copeland born at

Kansas City, Missouri, United States

Unsplash
Birth Place

Misty Copeland met her future husband, corporate attorney Olu Evans, in 2004 at a New York night club. After several years of dating, they married on July 31, 2016, at the Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach, California. Evans operates his dancewear company, ‘Muse Dancewear LLC’, out of their apartment on the Upper West Side.

Unsplash
Personal Life

In 2015, a documentary film was made on her life, titled, ‘A Ballerina’s Tale’, with Copeland providing the narration. The film premiered at the 2015 ‘Tribeca Film Festival’ on April 19.

Unsplash
Personal Life

She has written three books till date, including two autobiographies. She published her memoir, ‘Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina’, co-authored with journalist Charisse Jones, on March 4, 2014. Her second work as an author, ‘Firebird’, published on September 4, is a picture book with illustrations done by Christopher Myers. She and Jones worked together again on her second autobiographical work ‘Ballerina Body’, which was published on March 21, 2017.

Unsplash
Personal Life

Misty Copeland was born in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, on September 10, 1982, to Doug Copeland and Sylvia DelaCerna. She is of German, African American, and Italian descent. She has two brothers, Doulas Jr., and Christopher, a sister, Erica, one half-brother, Cameron, and one half-sister, Lindsay.

Unsplash
Childhood & Early Life

Her mother married four times, Misty’s father being her second husband. At three, she moved to California and that would be the last time she would see father for the next twenty years. She was raised in the San Pedro community in Los Angeles, California. Amid financial instability, Misty grew up moving from house to house of her mother’s various friends, boyfriends, and husbands.

Unsplash
Childhood & Early Life

Her interest in ballet began to bloom when she joined the ‘Dana Middle School’ drill team, and was promoted to captain, like her sister Erica before her. Seeing her inherent poise and talent, her coach Elizabeth Cantine referred her to Cynthia Bradley, who hosted a free ballet class once a week at the local ‘Boys and Girls Club’.

Unsplash
Childhood & Early Life

Misty Copeland started attending the free class and a few weeks into it, Bradley asked her to join her local small ballet school, ‘San Pedro Dance Center’. After initially declining the offer, she joined the class at 13 years of age with her mother’s permission. Three months later, she was made en pointe. Only eight months into her lessons, she enthralled her audience with her performance as Clara in the school production of ‘The Nutcracker’.

Unsplash
Career

Copeland started to stay with Bradley and her family after DelaCerna told her that she would have to quit ballet and Bradley convinced her mother to let Copeland live out of her household and continue training.

Unsplash
Career

At the completion of her summer workshop at the ‘San Francisco Ballet School’ in 1998, she was offered a full-time student scholarship at the institution but she declined.

Unsplash
Career

Due to the constant arguments with her mother about dancing and the Bradleys every time she returned home, Copeland filed emancipation papers to secure her legal independence from her mother. When she was informed about the petition, DelaCerna filed restraining orders against the Bradleys. The hearing took place ‘Los Angeles County Superior Court’. Eventually both cases were withdrawn and Copeland returned home.

Unsplash
Career

She went back to the ‘San Pedro High School’ and graduated in 2000. Her mother also found her a new teacher in former ABT dancer Diane Lauridsen.

Unsplash
Career

Misty Copeland performed alongside singer Prince at the ‘Madison Square Garden’ to his song ‘The Beautiful One’ in December 2010. They had earlier collaborated for the music video of his cover of ‘Tommy James and the Shondells’ song ‘Crimson and Clover’.

Unsplash
Major Works

In April 2015, Copeland danced as Odette/Odile in ‘Swan Lake’ with ‘The Washington Ballet’ at the ‘Eisenhower Theater’ in the ‘John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’.

Unsplash
Major Works

She debuted on the Broadway portraying the character Ivy Smith in a production of ‘On the Town’ in 2015.

Unsplash
Major Works